


Azure

by phantomofsam



Series: Azure [2]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Smut, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-04 16:14:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 33,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10994439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomofsam/pseuds/phantomofsam
Summary: 10 years after the events on the beach, Sky Weller is still saving mutants from those that would wish to torture them.10 years after the events on the beach, Sky Weller is asked to break Erik Lehnsherr out of the Pentagon.The sequel to Crossfire, following Days of Future Past





	1. Chapter 1

_Erik held out his hand to me. Raven was already by his side. Shaw’s former followers were now following him. I walked to Erik and smiled sadly._

_“I’m sorry, my love, but I can’t go with you.” I said softly. I pressed my lips against his. “I love you, so much, but… this, what has happened here… I have to form my own path.” I looked at Charles. “I’m sorry to you, too.”_

_“Where will you go?” Erik asked me. “Will we see each other again?”_

_“I believe so, Erik. You and I… we’ll never let go of this.”_

I woke up with a start. Had it really been almost a year since that day on the beach? It felt like only a few months ago, I had _met_ Charles Xavier, much less saved the world with him. I smiled. Those had been some good times. Some good days. I sighed and got up. There was no time for reminiscing. I had seen Erik and Charles both since then. Erik sometimes came to see me. Charles stayed at his school. I never saw them together. I was a little sad about that. They had been good friends. Best friends. They were just too different. Or too similar, I supposed. I shook my head. I had work to get to. I pushed myself out of bed and pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt. I had a flannel on the back of a chair that I put on as well. George and I had spent the last couple of days planning an attack on yet another facility that specialised in torturing mutants. In the last year, more and more had been popping up around the world. I had bases set up in every country I could manage, all with people that were there to help take down facilities. It was quite the set up. I was proud of it.

I walked down to the main room. George was already down there. He had changed a lot in the last year. His golden brown hair now came down to his shoulders and he much preferred to wear white shirts and washed out jeans. He had brown eyes and wore fake glasses, another thing that I didn’t understand. He didn’t need them. He just thought that they made him look smarter. I thought that they made him look like an idiot, but maybe that was just me. 

1963\. Anything was possible. At least it seemed that way. I sat down at a table next to him.

“So, this building. Did you manage to get the plans?” I asked.

“Sparks did. She used her powers. She’s getting stronger. Pretty soon, I think we’ll be able to take her into the field. Anyway, her clairvoyance gave us a map.” George set it out. “If we enter through here, then we can get to the mutants straight away, letting them go free first before we even have to encounter the nightguards.”

“Just keep in mind what happened last time. We have to be prepared for an increase in security. They’re afraid of what we can do.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It depends. Fear can be dangerous. Never forget that.”

“You’re talking about the beach again, aren’t you?”

“They were going to kill us all.”

“And you wouldn’t let Magneto kill them.”

“He used to be a very different person. A better person.”

I reached into my pocket. I still had the metal wings that he had made me.

_“What’s wrong, Sky? You’ve turned rather pale.” Erik asked._

_“Planes. I don’t really like planes.” I said. “I prefer the open air.” I added quietly._

_“I’ve never seen you in a plane. I forgot about that.” Erik took my hand._

_“It’s not a great time for me. But I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute.”_

_“You need the open air.”_

_“No, no, it’s fine. Just 22 hours, right? I couldn’t fly that long anyway. This is a quicker option.”_

_Erik looked around for a moment and then held out his hand. A few pieces of metal flew into his palm. He put his other hand on top. A moment later, he opened them. There was a small set of metal wings in his palm._

_“To help give you some comfort.” He shrugged._

It was true that rumours had begun to spread about Erik. He was far more dangerous now than he had been. He had killed people. I knew that he had. Or maybe he hadn’t. He had Raven. Or Mystique. I didn’t call either of them by their codenames. I tried my best to sort through the truth and the rumours. I didn’t believe that they were really as bad as people thought they were. Still, it didn’t seem to matter. The people here wanted to believe what they wanted to believe. There wasn’t much that I could do. As long as they didn’t attack Erik’s “Brotherhood of Mutants”. I rolled my eyes. Brotherhood. It hadn’t really taken off. Unsurprisingly, most people we saved decided to stay with us. They would go through a week of training with me and then I’d send them to wherever they were needed most. It was a policy, no, a rule, that no one under my command would harm anyone, human or mutant, unless provoked. One of my lieutenants was a telepath. He could tell me if someone was lying. If they were, and they had attacked someone of their own volition, that person would be exiled and sent off. Thankfully, that didn’t happen too often.

I looked up at George. We were ready to go, for the most part. It was a small team comprised of me, George, and a newer recruit named Nev. George’s mutation would be particularly useful in getting into the building undetected. He had the ability to move the earth below us. He could easily create a tunnel in the ground that would close up behind us and open inside of the building. Nev could control water. I was probably, honestly, the least useful member of this particular team. I had large wings that retracted behind my back and a healing factor. They were impressive to look at, but not as useful in buildings. I had been trained extensively on how to use them indoors, but it wasn’t a fun experience.

“Anyway, we won’t encounter Er- _Magneto_ there, so we’ll be fine in that regard. Let’s just focus on getting in and getting out as quickly as possible. I’ll disable the facility from the inside.” I said. “The control panel should be here.”

I pointed on the map. That was the best option, wasn’t it? It was the only way to ensure that they didn’t start up again.

“Should be?”

“You never know if these people are logical or not. Let’s hope that they are. Is Nev ready?”

“I think he is.”

“You think or you know? There isn’t any room for uncertainty here, George.”

“I’m certain.”

“All right then. Go fetch him. We’ve got to get there before nightfall.”

Getting there before night would allow for us to have some time to set up outside. Then, once we were certain that everyone except for the nightguards was gone, then we’d be able to enter virtually undetected. George and Nev would go to the room holding the mutants and George would use his powers to break the locks. Nev would be on watch and in charge of keeping the guards at bay if they saw them. I would go to the main server and shut it down, deleting their files and preventing them from finding anymore mutants using that facility. Ever. 

I hated it that people wanted to hurt mutants. I hated it that they thought that that was the best option to find out what had happened to us. I hated that it had happened to me. For the longest time, I had had nightmares about it. I hadn’t had any in just under a year, something that I was very proud of. I had escaped from one of these facilities myself. It had been quite the moment in my life. After 8 years of being tortured and torn apart, I was able to get out. That was when I met George. I had left on my own and landed, well, crashed into the woods of one Monica Weller. She had taken me in and shown me that not all humans were afraid of mutants. That was how I got my last name. Weller. Sky Weller, defender of mutants. That was what George had taken to calling me. I didn’t care for it. The others called me “Azure”. It was the name that I left behind in these places. It was the name that people like those we were going to attack were afraid of.

Yet another thing that I was proud of.

Well, sort of. I was glad that I was making an impact. That had been my goal all along. Well, it was a smaller part of my real goal, which was the, of course, freedom of tortured mutants. If we could get even a fraction closer to that than we were now, I would consider it a win. No one deserved to live like that. Trapped and alone. Fearing that they would die before they ever got to see the sun again, before they got to see their _families_ again.

Nev came into the room. He was a short man, coming just past my shoulders. This made him about 5’6”. I was 5’9”. That was irrelevant to the story. He was wearing all black. I made no comment. We didn’t need to be dressed like that. He wasn’t even going to be in that for long. There was armour that we were going to wear. I had yet to find someone else that had a healing factor like my own. The armour was to help protect us from bullets and other such things. I looked at George and nodded. We had to walk down there now. There was a basement area that held all of our equipment. I pressed a button and the door opened to reveal the armour. George went to get Nev fitted. I grabbed my own set. 

The armour was a dark grey colour and made up of light metal plates. My armour stopped at my shoulders. It would have been much harder for me to use my wings if I had the sleeves that were on all of the others. I walked over to the weapons. I had started taking a bow with me. The arrows made it significantly easier for me to stay long range. That made it harder to get hit with things. I had my quiver on my leg and the bow had a place to rest on my lower back. It was all designed to make it easier for me to use my wings. I turned and looked at George and Nev. They were both ready to go. 

We were in a car. I would have flown if we weren’t going to a mutant torturing facility, but we were, so I was in the passenger seat. Nev was in the back, staring out the window. He was nervous. I didn’t blame him. We had all been in a place like this before. Willingly going back, even for a good cause, was nerve racking. It was terrifying. I was grateful to him for doing this. It wasn’t for everyone. Most of the people we recruited stayed behind as tech support because they couldn’t bear to go back to anywhere even remotely like their own facilities. I could understand that. I had had that feeling for a time. Three years ago, I never would have been able to picture myself doing this. Now, here I was. This was what I was supposed to do. Like I had promised Erik and Charles that day, I had found my own path.

George stopped the car. We took it to the side of the road and hide it in the forest. We’d come back for it when we were done. We hiked the rest of the way, stopping outside of the facility. Nev had the map. George looked over it carefully. There was a halfway point between the mutant holding area and the main computer room. That was where I would go to disable everything. I was prepared for this. I nodded to George. We waited until the sun went down a little farther before we started to mount our assault. 

George closed his eyes and focused. The ground below us caved in, leaving us in a tunnel. He shut the top. I held up a flashlight. I had great eyesight, even in the dark, but these two didn’t. George took point for this part. We walked for a ways and then the ground opened again. We were inside of the building. I looked up at one of the cameras and smiled, giving a little wave.

“All right, you know what you’re supposed to do. Get it done. We’ll meet here in twenty minutes. If one of us doesn’t show up… we keep moving. Got it?” I said.

“Understood.” George said.

Nev nodded. “Ye-yeah. Clear.”

“Good. Go on.”

I turned and ran down the hallway. I had the map memorised. A right turn. Walk for a bit. Left. Straight ahead. And there it was. There was… there was supposed to be a guard here. Maybe he was on a break or something. I hoped that that was all that it was. I had no time to worry about it. I closed the door behind me, using a metal bar to keep any unwanted visitors out. I pulled up a chair and sat in front of the computer. I wasn’t nearly as good at all of this as Hank was. I sort of wished that he was here. He would have been so much better at this than me. I shook my head. It was time to focus. It was time to get those poor souls out of here. I heard a crash from far away. I looked at one of the screen. George and Nev were helping the mutants out of their cages. I had to get a move on. 

I got access to the system. I always hated this part. Sorting through files. There were a lot of gruesome photos that I was forced to look at. I sighed and put on a virus that would corrupt the entire system in the span of seconds. That was all that we could really hope for. So far, it had worked in keeping these facilities from reopening. The virus also left my codename on all of their computers. So they knew who was screwing them over.

I stood up and turned around. I stopped. How-

“Hello, Sky.”


	2. Chapter 2

I stood up and turned around. I stopped. How-

“Hello, Sky.”

How was he here? Why was he here? What the hell was going on?

“Erik?!” I said incredulously. “What the- how- why?”

He smiled. “It’s good to see you, too.”

Erik was wearing a purplish-red armour. And that stupid helmet. I ignored the helmet. It made me angry because it made me think of the beach and all of the people that he had almost killed and okay it was time to stop that now. I walked towards him. Was he really here? I looked at the metal bar I had used on the door. Completely bent. Yep. This was Erik. I hugged him. I hadn’t seen him in a few months. It was good to see him. I had missed him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. 

“Looking for you.”

“So, you just went through all of these facilities looking for me?”

“I had someone who told me you’d be here.”

“A telepath?”

“Emma.”

“You’re working with Emma, now?”

“Are you jealous, Sky? Or should I call you Azure?”

“We can discuss all of this later. Now, we have to get out of here. Come on.”

I took his hand and we ran through the halls back to where I was supposed to meet Nev and George. We would soon send all of the mutants out through another exit. They were given three places that they could choose to go to, if they so wished. Otherwise, they were allowed to do, well, whatever they wanted with their freedom. George and Nev were there. George’s eyes widened. He knew who this was.

“Magneto.”

“No time. I’ll explain later.”

Just as soon as I knew what was going on myself. I walked into the room with all of the mutants. They looked at me in shock. I heard a few of them whispering. I stood on top of a table. I looked out over them all.

“You’re free.” I began. “What you do with that freedom is your choice, but know that you have options. You can go to Westchester and find the school there. You can go to Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants. Or, you can come with me and free your fellow mutants. It’s up to you. You have time to decide. You can follow your own path, now. The exit is over there.” I gestured to the wall. George opened a hole there. “If you wish to come and join me, then go to the abandoned factory on Elm tomorrow morning. If not… well, then, that’s your decision.”

They all nodded. I watched them leave and turned to George.

“George, get us out of here.”

George opened up a hole in the ground. It seemed like he was trying to show off. I gave him a look. He didn’t seem to care. I sighed. Whenever Erik was around, George started to behave much differently. It was annoying and particularly useless when we were trying to make a fast getaway. The ground opened above us and we all exited. I didn’t say anything. I just started walking towards the car. Erik stayed next to me. George was on the other side. Nev looked as uncomfortable as I felt. I sighed in frustration. We reached the car. I looked back at the facility. Naturally, chaos had broken out amongst the guards. The mutants were gone. A few of them could fly. I thought I saw one teleport. It was all what was supposed to be happening. They were free. It wasn’t like it was a large group. It was only about ten people. The room that they had been held in had a field that would dampen mutations. That was another thing that made me shutting down the system pivotal. George wouldn’t have been able to get them out without my help.

I reached to open the car door. Erik beat me to it. 

“George, Nev, you go on without me. Magneto and I need to have a chat.” I sighed.

“Are you sure?” George asked. “We can wait.”

“Go, George.”

He glared at Erik and got in the car. Nev and George drove off. I watched as they made their way down the road and then turned to face Erik. He had a smirk on your face.

“Right then, why were you there?”

“What? I can’t go to a top secret facility to see my girlfriend? What is this world coming to?”

“Shut it. Erik, if you wanted to just see me, you would’ve come to HQ. What’s going on?”

His easy smile fell off and he became serious. “There’s something you need to know. It’s about your brother, John.”

“What does John have to do with any of this?”

Oh, yes, did I mention that I have a brother? Well, brothers? And a couple of sisters… anyway. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States. It was pretty cool. Not something that I advertised. Most of my family was involved with politics. I had wondered once or twice how many of them knew about what was going on here. It scared me to think about John knowing about this torture. Erik looked reluctant to tell me. I turned my head to the side. He would answer me eventually. It did worry me that he was suddenly reluctant to tell me anything about it now. Erik had never had trouble telling me something in the past, especially not when I asked him directly. What made this so different?

“He’s one of us.”

“One of us? As in-”

“John’s a mutant, Sky.”

What? John was a mutant? I wasn’t the only mutant in my family? It wasn’t entirely out of the question, but still… how was this the first time that I had heard about it? I shook my head. John was one of us. I sighed. 

“He… I… but…”

“Maybe this isn’t the best place to talk about this. Shall we?” He held out his arm.

I was having a hard time processing this. John was a mutant. A mutant. He was like me. He and I had always gotten along more than our other siblings. That had always seemed strange to our parents, as John was 20 years older than I was. There was just something about him that made him easier to talk to than any of my other siblings. Maybe that was his mutation. I found myself wondering what it was. I thought about all of the things that had happened in my childhood that could have possibly been his mutation. What was it? Was it cool? Did he have wings like me? Or a healing factor? Wouldn’t that be something. I hadn’t been able to find anyone who had that. It was something that eluded me. Did family members even share mutations, or was that just wishful thinking on my part? I shook my head.

“Let’s go.”

I took to the air. Fresh air usually helped me think through things like this. Maybe that would be the case this time. I certainly hoped so. It would make it all easier if that was the case. Erik was quick behind me. Oh. I had almost forgotten about his ability to fly as well. He would probably get tired out slower than I would, as I was using actual muscles. Then again, I had found that I could fly for a total of 18 hours without tiring out. I didn’t make a habit of doing that for obvious reasons. We flew back to HQ, staying above where the people could see us. I dropped out of the sky and in front of the doors. George was waiting there, leaning on the car. Erik was close behind me.

“Oh, good to see you join us, Azure.” He said in a dark tone.

I had had it with his jealousy.

“That’s enough, George. I want you to get Hannah ready for orientation. Magneto and I need a few moments undisturbed.” I said. “Magneto, if you please. George, a word.”

“Of course, great leader.”

Erik walked inside. I waited until the door closed to say anything.

“Is there something you’d like to discuss with me, George?”

“I don’t know why you trust him so much. He’s killed people.”

“And he’s saved them, too. He saved my life more than once. I trust Magneto more than anyone else. He won’t hurt any of us. And quite frankly, your attitude towards him has been more than a little disappointing.”

“He doesn’t deserve you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t believe that’s your place, George. Don’t forget that you asked _me_ to be the leader. I didn’t want this. If you’re having second thoughts because of my person relationships, then I suggest that you let it go or leave this outfit. For good. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go catch up with an old friend.”

I pushed past George and into the building. People like him really just irked me. He was letting his personal feelings get in the way of what he was supposed to be doing. I could understand that. I used to let that happen to me, but it held no place here. Not with all that we were trying to accomplish. He couldn’t stand to be jealous. Besides, he had nothing to gain from it. I walked through the compound. People were awake now. I said hello to them as they walked by. I entered a room. Erik was there waiting for me. He had taken off that ridiculous helmet. His hair was a little longer than I remembered. I smiled. He walked towards me, stopping when we were just inches apart. I thought that his cape was a little silly. I pulled him into a kiss. 

His hand rested on my lower back as he kept me close to his chest. I moved away first. 

“So, John is a mutant. You’re sure?” I said, leaning against the table in the centre of the room.

“Would I have come here if I wasn’t? I know that this must be a lot to take in.”

“What’s his mutation?”

“Telepathic persuasion.”

“Christ.”

That would… actually make a lot of sense. It made a lot of things a lot more clear. I rubbed the back of my neck. There had to be more to this. Erik wouldn’t have gone to the facility just to tell me that John was a mutant. There was more to it. I could feel it. I turned to look at Erik. He had a sort of guilt, no, it was more like pity, in his eyes.

“What is it? What else is going on, Erik?”

“I, well, we, have reason to believe that someone is planning to assassinate your brother.”

“Someone’s planning on assassinating the President of the United States?”

“Yes.”

“And what do you expect for me to do about it? He doesn’t even know that I’m alive. How am I going to be able to help him?”

It was a valid question. When my powers had first revealed themselves, I had been taken away from my family. They all thought that I was dead. I had had to listen in silence as John told me all of the things that he had had planned for me to do. The things that he knew I was capable of. What would he think if he saw me know, 12 years later, alive and well? He would probably hate me for not telling him that I was alive. There was nothing I could do. Besides, he had the secret service to protect him. He was the bloody president, after all! He had more guards than I had powers. Okay, bad analogy, but the point still stood. I couldn’t do anything to help him. 

“You can do more than you know. You can warn him.”

“So can you.”

“And just how close do you think I can get to the President on my own?”

“Closer than anyone here. You can stop them from shooting at you.”

“And you have a healing factor in case I mess up.”

“Erik-”

“Sky. This isn’t about your family problems. This is about saving one of our fellow mutants. I am asking for your help. How many times have I done that in the past year?”

I sighed. He hadn’t asked for my help. Not as often as Charles had. I sat down. I couldn’t go and see John. Well, who said that I had to? It was wrong. No, it was the right thing to do. I’d be saving his life. But would I really? There was a chance that these were just rumours, after all. There was no guarantee that John was really in any danger. But if he was… if I was and he knew about it, John wouldn’t have hesitated to come to my aid. It was my turn to do the same. There was no turning your back on family. I had been doing that for too long. That didn’t make them any less my family. This would be my chance to make up for all of that. Right? I hit my head against the table twice and looked up at Erik.

He was looking at me expectantly. He knew me far too well. I let out another heavy sigh.

“All right. What do I have to do?”

“I’m glad you asked, Sky. It’s simple enough, really. You wouldn’t happen to have a direct line to the President’s office, would you?”


	3. Chapter 3

I stopped in front of the doors. This was wrong. I had to leave. No. Nope. How had I let Erik talk me into this? I probably would have run away if Erik hadn’t been right next to me. He took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. This was not what I had been thinking that I would be doing today. Maybe freeing more mutants from a terrible fate, but not infiltrating the White House for the hope of maybe getting a chance to see my brother who thought that I was dead. I couldn’t stress that last part enough. How would he even react to seeing me actually alive? I wouldn’t blame him if he hated me. I had had twelve years of freedom. I could have come to see him at any point. Well, I could have tried, anyway, but I didn’t. I had been too focused on staying with Monica, the woman who had taken care of me when I had first gotten my freedom back. Then, on finding Shaw with Erik, and then training with Charles, and finally setting mutants free. I had kept myself busy to avoid thinking about all of the things that I was thinking about now. I should have just left. That would be the best thing to do. 

Damn Erik. Damn the hold that he had on me. Damn me for coming here today.

It wasn’t like it was just us. Emma was here, along with Azazel (staying behind in the car because no one wants to see a devil walking around here), and Rav- Mystique. She had taken to being called Mystique. She would always be Raven to me, just as Erik would always be, well, Erik. I called her Mystique to humour her when she was around, but otherwise referred to her as Raven. She was in the crowd, just another face. Our first plan was to use Emma’s telepathy to get past the Secret Service Agents and into the hotel room. If that didn’t work, then Raven would change into one of them and let us in. If all else failed, Azazel was our last resort. This was a terrible plan and we were going to get caught. I had given Erik one condition for this: no killing. I hadn’t yet gotten to that point. He reluctantly agreed.

Emma looked across the way at the guards. She told Erik that we could go through. We did. The guards opened the doors for us. I grabbed their clearance badges. Thankfully, they didn’t have pictures on them. I clipped one onto Erik’s leather jacket. He didn’t seem to think that we would need them. I didn’t seem to think that he had done this before. I had done something like this before. It had sort of worked. Maybe it would work better this time. I hoped so. I let out a breath. One more door to get into the Presidential Suite, where John would be. Hopefully. If he wasn’t, then we were going to have a hell of a time getting _out_ again. I stopped in front of the door.

My heart was racing. I hadn’t been this afraid since Cuba. Correction: I was _far_ more terrified now than I had been in Cuba. I wasn’t sure that I was ready for this. I was going to be doing the one thing that I had been certain was out of the question. That wasn’t good. That was bad. Very bad. I had so many reasons to turn away and leave. John had a wife and kids. He was happy. He had a life. I didn’t need to interfere in it. It was too late for me to have any kind of relationship with John. He was 46, for christ’s sake. He had moved on. Erik gave me a look. I shied away from it. Not because I was afraid of him, but because it said everything that he needed it to to get me to walk through that door.

I pushed it open. He was sitting at a desk, looking over some paperwork. He was on a tour campaign. That had to be what all of this planning was about. He looked up, shocked to see us. I wondered where Jackie was.

 

“What are you- how did you get in here?!” He asked, standing quickly.

He didn’t recognise me.

I supposed that that should have made me feel relieved. It meant that all of my worrying had been for nothing and there had been no reason not to come here today. He didn’t recognise me. He had no idea who I was. The disappointment settled in my bones. That was fine. I wasn’t here for a family reunion. More important things to worry about.

“Please, Jo- Mr. President, we’re not here to hurt you.” I said, holding up my hands in a surrendering way. I hit Erik’s shoulder. He rolled his eyes and did the same. “Quite the opposite. We have some information that just might save your life.”

“Oh, really? And just why should I believe that?”

“Because you’re like us. You’re like me.” I took off my jacket and slowly let my wings unfurl, not quite to their full width. 

His eyes widened in shock and then narrowed, like he was thinking about an old memory. Oh no. I should have just cut my palm. I put my wings away quickly. I could have had Erik do something. This was foolish. All of my worries were coming back. I had to say something. Anything. Something intelligent. How did I form words? Wasn’t I smart? I thought that I was. I was the leader of what was essentially a terrorist organisation and had avoided detection for over a year and now I couldn’t even make a sentence or think of anything to say. Why wasn’t Erik coming to my rescue?

“You’re a mutant.” Erik said.

Finally. I snapped back into reality.

“And we believe that there will soon be an attempt on your life. That’s why we’re here.”

“To save my life?” He turned his head. “Even if you are like me, why would you _want_ to do that?”

He knew that he was a mutant? Well, he was 46. I supposed that he had had more than enough time to figure it out. How long had he known? Had he known when I fell out of that tree? Could he have said anything to stop them from taking me away?

“You’re a symbol to us all. That we can do whatever we want.”

“That’s all you’ve got?” He shook his head. “Still, I… I find myself trusting you. Why is that? Is that his mutation?”

“No. He controls metal. None of us have any sort of telepathy. That’s reserved for you, Mr. President.”

“The way you say that. It’s almost patronising.”

“My apologies.”

He stared at me. Was he beginning to recognise me? I couldn’t see how. I looked completely different from my 14 year old self. My hair was shorter now and my eyes were a light grey instead of a deep blue like they used to be. That was the fault of the scientists. They had blinded me, several times, to see if my eyes would heal themselves. Thankfully, they did. I looked down at the ground. I didn’t like this scrutiny. It made my skin crawl.

“We don’t when they’re planning this assassination. If you would please allow for one of us to stay with you until this all blows over-”

“I think you’ll find that my guards are more than capable.”

“Are you trying to use your powers on me?”

“Do I have to?”

“Everything that I have told you is the truth, Mr. President. Whether or not you believe it is entirely up to you.”

“I don’t know why I-” His eyes widened once more in shock and realisation as it hit him.

He knew.

“Skylar?” He said softly. 

I didn’t say anything. I looked up at his green eyes. He walked to me and pulled me into a hug. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around him. It was just like I remembered it all those years ago. John kept his hand on the back of my head. He was grasping at me like he was afraid to let go. I certainly was. I was afraid that if I let go, I would wake up alone again. I felt tears threaten to escape my eyes.

“I thought you were dead. For 12 years, I believed that you were dead. I let them take you! I’m so sorry!”

“No, no! It wasn’t your fault! I should have listened to you and been more careful in that bloody tree.” I chuckled. “You have no idea how many times I wanted to come and see you.”

“Why didn’t you?” He let me go. “You would have saved me so much grief.”

“Because it would have been wrong of me to waltz back into your life like that. And it was Er- erm, Magneto, who convinced me to come here today. I thought that it would have been selfish of me to come back. I mean, look at all that you’ve done.”

“You’re my sister, Sky. I would have gladly given up all of this to get you back and you were alive this whole time. What have you been doing?”

“Oh, you know, saving the world. The Cuban Missile Crisis? Yeah, that was us.” I said in a (sort of) fake bragging tone.

“Then I owe you a great debt of gratitude. Both of you. Especially you, for bringing my sister back to me.”

“It was my pleasure. She’s always spoken very highly of you.” Erik said. “She just needed a little push.”

“Can you give us a moment alone? Please?” I turned to Erik. “I’ll be out in a moment.”

He nodded and walked away. It was just John and I. Emma had used her powers to make his guards wait outside. A great gift, really, I was a little jealous that I didn’t have telepathy. I looked over John. He really hadn’t changed in all these years. Even his hair was the same, which I found amusing. It was different seeing him in person. I had seen him on TV and in the papers over the years but this was so different. My heart was racing. I had thought about this moment so many times. I had thought about what I would say. What would we talk about? 

“So, president. You really aimed high.” I said. “I always knew you’d do great things.”

“It was more Dad’s idea than mine, but I knew that I could help this country if I put my mind to it.”

“I have to ask- did you use your powers to get here?”

“No, of course not. I’ve never used them for personal gain. What type of politician would that make me?”

“It would make you like _every_ politician, John.”

“Exactly. And I don’t want to be like every politician.”

“You always were your own person.”

“What have you been doing for the past twelve years, Sky? Why didn’t you come back to me? To us?”

I turned away again. That was a surprisingly loaded question. I had no idea if I should have told John everything that happened. I mean, there were obviously the good parts: Monica, Charles, the X-Men, Erik… but the bad things were there too: Monica, the torture, Shaw, _Erik_... I couldn’t possibly tell him everything. I was sure that we didn’t have much time. It would be wrong for me to keep it from him. It wasn’t like there was no way for him to find out. Well, maybe there wasn’t. I had never gone back to that first facility. To _my_ facility. I trusted John. I did. I really did.

“Well, it’s not like I had all of that time to myself!” I said. That wasn’t how I wanted that to come out. “Sorry. I tend to snap at people now. Anyway, I mean that I’ve really only had the last four years with the actual _ability_ to come back. I was in a, well, let’s just call it a facility for mutants that wasn’t exactly nice.”

“They tortured you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, they tortured me.”

“I- I had no idea.”

“I didn’t expect for you to. I escaped back in ‘59. I met a girl named Monica. Stayed with her for about a year and a half. 1960, early 1961. Then she was… she died and I met Erik about four months after that. Then Charles in ‘62, and since then I’ve been working with a group of mutants to do some… not technically legal but definitely morally right things.”

“My sister the criminal. I certainly never thought that that would be your life.”

“Neither did I. But hey, that’s the way it goes.”

“What are these not ‘technically legal but definitely morally right things’ that you do?”

“I free other mutants that are trapped like I was. I give them a home and send them to people that can train them how to use their powers.”

We talked like that for a little while longer. It was like old times. Kind of. I mean, we were talking about things that were much heavier in content than we used to. After a while, we brought Erik back in. We talked more about the assassination. John agreed to let the two of us stay near him. We wouldn’t be his guards or anything, but we would be able to protect him if anything happened and that was what was most important. Keeping him safe. Keeping my brother safe.

John and I talked for a while longer. It was amazing having a chance to talk to him. Being able to be around him again. I had almost forgotten what it was like to actually have family to talk to. Sure, Erik and Charles were _like_ family, but it was different with John. He was real family. Family that I hadn’t talked to in years. There was so much to catch up on. Well, on his side, anyway. Jackie, the kids, the stress of his job… it was amazing. I said goodnight to him.

“I still want you to meet Jackie at some point. If you don’t mind, that is.”

“I… I’m not sure if that’s the best idea. I mean, if the rest of the world gets word that I’ve magically been resurrected, well… it might not go so well. Maybe one day. Soon, I hope. Once all of this is over, perhaps.” I responded. “But now, try and get some sleep. We’ve both got work to do in the morning.”

I closed the door behind me. Erik was waiting patiently. He had left again to give John and I another chance to talk.

“So, was it everything you imagined?” He smiled.

“You bastard. That was the only reason you brought me along, wasn’t it? To make me see him again?”

“Yes. And?”

I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “And thank you, Erik. That’s the best thing that anyone could have forced me to do.”

“You’re very welcome.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey, it's a smut chapter. No plot, if you want to skip this one.

This was boring.

It had been two days since that meeting. There hadn’t even been any _signs_ that someone was planning an attack. At least, none of the usual signs and from what I could see, all of the people here in Dallas loved John. Most people did. Not exactly full of killers. Still, Erik and I both wanted to stay. He had some of his people, I had some of mine. Not George. I thought it might be best to keep George and Erik as far away from each other as I possibly could. They would probably end up trying to kill each other. No, George would say something rude or offensive to Erik, probably about me, and then Erik would easily kill him and I’d be left with Erik once again as a killer. I was still trying to show him a better way. I truly believed that he had that ability. That he could do that. Be a good person. I had seen that side of him more than once.

I laid back on the bed. We were in John’s hotel room now. He was off with Jackie. They were on a plane and wouldn’t be here until after the motorcade rolled through town. I was still trying my best not to meet Jackie. Not yet. The situation was delicate as it was. Jackie probably wouldn’t take too kindly to meeting me when I had “died” the day that she was supposed to meet me back in 1951. Of course, I didn’t know much about her. Maybe she’d be okay with it. Or at least accept it for what it was. I shook my head and laid back against the bed. Erik was by the window, looking out.

“So, we just sit here and do nothing until the tour is over?” I said.

“Well, that’s when the assassin is most likely to attack him, so yes. After that, I’ll have one of my people watching over him.” He turned back and looked at me. “I won’t let him die, Sky. I promise you that.”

“I never thought for an instant that you would. But it does beg the question- would you be doing this if he wasn’t a mutant?”

“Yes.”

“If he wasn’t my brother?”

Erik turned away again. His silence was answer enough. Erik was still… well, it had only been a year. At least he wasn’t wearing that ridiculous helmet. No, instead we had an electromagnetic field that would block out even cerebro. He had tested it with Emma more than once, so that was something. I looked over at Erik. I was bored. We had gotten here a day before John was scheduled to. He was here now, or at least almost here. I looked at the time. It was 9 in the morning. I had been up for several hours already, going over maps and pouring over all of the ways that an assassin could possibly get to John. I had hoped that I had gone through every option, every “what if” question. Between Erik and I, we had to have gotten them all. Now, it was just waiting. Emma was looking over every possibility. Anyone who got anywhere near John got their mind thoroughly scrubbed by her. Anyone with murderous intent could be stopped and apprehended by us.

But now it was just waiting.

I walked over to Erik and sat down next to him. I leaned my forehead against his back. There had to be something to do. I was just looking for ways to pass the time at this point. I would have done anything. Besides, John wasn’t even here now. Wouldn’t be for a while. I closed my eyes. Well, there was something I could do, probably.

“Entertain me, Erik.” I said.

“I’m working.” He responded.

That hadn’t stopped him before.

“As are Azazel, Janey, Nev, and Emma.”

“And what sort of example would I be setting if I got distracted now?”

“So I’m a distraction, then?”

“You know you are.”

“How am I distracting?” 

I kissed his neck. He focused on the window. Now I was determined to be his distraction. It was entertaining for me. I ran my hands down his chest. He was wearing his signature turtleneck and leather jacket. I pulled the jacket from his shoulders.

“You’re so tense, Erik. Why don’t you relax?”

He was struggling to stay focused. Shit. I did have more of an effect on him than I originally realised. Wonderful. He decided it was better to give up and turned to face me. I smiled. Erik pulled me into a kiss, keeping me close against his chest. He grabbed my hair and pulled my head back, causing me to open my mouth slightly. He slipped his tongue into my mouth. I moaned into his mouth. Erik and I rarely got moments like these anymore. It was just a fact. He and I were both powerful leaders and had more important things to be worried about. I would take whatever I could get at this point. I really did love Erik, more than anything in the world. That was why I was so desperate to show him a better way than killing. He laid me back against the window seat, squeezing my hip. I put a leg around his waist. Erik kissed my jawline and made his way to my neck. He bit down lightly.

He yanked my shirt off and cast it aside. I tugged on the hem of his. Erik threw it to the other side of the room. I ran my nails down his toned chest. Yeah, I’d missed this. Erik took one of my breasts in his hand, palming me over my bra. I pressed my lips to Erik’s. Erik picked me up and pressed me against the wall. He pulled my bra off, gazing hungrily at my bare skin. He ran a finger over me.

I could feel a growing need for friction, getting stronger each second. I pulled off his belt, cupping him through his trousers. He kissed me again, for sure bruising my lips. The wall was rough against my back. I really didn’t care. I pushed his pants over his hips, reaching down to grab his length. His head fell back and he lost control, even just for a moment. That was what I liked to see. Erik was always in control. Those few moments when he lost it were rare and I intended to relish them. I moved my hand across his length easily. He grabbed my hands before I could finish. He pinned my wrists above my head against the wall. 

Erik took off my jeans and added them to the ever-growing pile of clothes. He plunged a finger inside of me. I leaned forward against him, clawing at his back as he pumped his fingers in and out, his thumb pressing down on my clit. The pleasure built. The pressure got higher as Erik’s fingers moved faster. I was close. I could feel it. Just… a… Erik pulled his hand away, much to my dismay. I whimpered. 

He didn’t leave me in the lurch for long. Erik picked me up and slammed my hips against his. I had to wrap my legs around him just to hold on. Erik kept up a ruthless pace. He was back in control. I was struggling to keep up with him. He rubbed his fingers against my clit, pushing me closer against the wall. I clawed at his back to find a grip, something to keep me grounded in this moment with him. His lips connected with my collarbone as he moved even faster. 

I called out his name as I drew blood. Erik let out his last few thrusts. He and I slid to the ground. He held onto me, still smiling. I pushed away for him and found my clothes, getting dressed again.

“See, I told you that you could entertain me.” I chuckled.

“Is that all I am to you? Entertainment?” he said with fake hurt.

“Absolutely.” I turned to face him. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Oh, good. All right,” I stretched, “I’m ready for the rest of the night. Let’s get this over with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, no plot.


	5. Chapter 5

I was on a roof. I was looking out over the buildings. We had people at every corner. There was nowhere that wasn’t monitored. I met with John one last time before he went into the car. I wasn’t a fan of the fact that it was a convertible. It was going to make it that much harder to protect him if there was an assassin. I was just lucky that we had Erik here. If there was a bullet, then Erik would be able to curve it away from John. Emma would be able to read the mind of someone with bad intentions. We had contingency plans for our contingency plans. It all else failed, then I would be there to pull John and Jackie out of their car to safety. I could take a bullet. I wondered if John had the same healing factor that I did. That would be helpful. I shook my head. More important things. Erik was next to me. He had a set of binoculars, as he couldn’t see as far as I could without them. I tapped my foot impatiently. This was too dangerous. There was just something that I had a bad feeling about. 

I couldn’t shake it.

“Erik, tell Azazel to stay close to the car. As close as he can.” I said.

“Is something wrong?” Erik asked.

“I’ve got a bad feeling. I can’t really describe it, but… just keep a close eye on him.”

“All right. I’ll let him know.”

Was there anything else that we could do? My leg started to shake involuntarily. I had to do something, surely. Something. Anything. I stood up and started pacing. I had to do something. I shook my head. I was being insane. Like I said, we had plans for everything. Everything. John was safe. So why couldn’t I shake this feeling? I hated this. I looked outside the window. John was coming by now. I could tell because the people were cheering as he got closer. I could see him in his car. Jackie was smiling and waving at the people. I wanted to keep an eye on him. I jumped to the next roof, following them. Erik was close behind me. 

“What are you doing, Sky? This isn’t the plan!”

“I can’t shake this feeling, Erik! Something’s not right here.”

Something wasn’t right here. I could see that it was off. 

I heard the first gunshot.

I looked over to John. He was clutching his neck. Where was Azazel? He was supposed to get him out of there! Nothing. I looked at Erik desperately. He was focusing on when the next bullet went off. Jackie was trying to calm him down. I couldn’t stay calm myself. I should have known. I… I had to do something. I stood. The second gunshot rang out. Erik was curving it out of the way. There was a third gunshot. A third? I felt something hit the side of my head with the force of a truck. I fell to the ground and it all turned to darkness in an instant.

* * *

He saw her fall before anything else happened. He lost control of what he was doing as he ran to Sky. He caught her before she hit the ground. The bullet had hit her in the head, fracturing her skull. Erik used his powers to pull the bullet from her head. She could heal. He remembered that. She could heal. So why wasn’t she? She was dead, that was why. He could feel it in his heart. She had no heart beat. There was nothing. She was dead. She was dead. Sky was dead. No. No no no. He looked up. There were men on the roof. Erik’s powers were out of control for the first time since he had been a child. All the metal around him began to shake with his fury. No. She couldn’t be dead. She was the one that was supposed to survive. He looked around at the men surrounding him now. He probably would have killed them all if there hadn’t been a sharp prick in his neck. He pulled out a needle. What the- his vision faded away and he collapsed.

* * *

I woke up on a cold metal table. There was a tube in my arm, taking out my blood. I pulled it out of my arm. Of course. They were trying to keep me weak. I couldn’t blame them. Either that, or they were trying to get access to my healing factor. Foolish men, didn’t they know that I couldn’t transfer my power? I popped the blood bags. Looked like it was time for another daring escape. There was one window. But before I left… I had to know. What happened after I had been shot? To John? To _Erik?_ I pulled open a couple of filing cabinets. I knew that this wasn’t a real hospital. I had been in enough of these places. It was another facility. I pulled out the most recent file. No.

I dropped it to the ground.

“Target successfully terminated. Erik Lehnsherr, aka ‘Magneto’, apprehended. Azure in hand, deceased.”

We failed.

* * *

It didn’t rain on the day of John’s funeral.

That felt wrong somehow. Like an injustice, or something. A final injustice. I didn’t really attend his funeral. I was in the background, watching from afar. I waited until the rest of the people were gone to go in front of his grave. My hand was in my pocket, squeezing the wings that Erik had given me until my hand was bleeding. I collapsed in front of his grave, reading his name on the headstone. It was so plan, just his name and the year he died. I leaned against the stones.

“I- I’m sorry, John. I was going to help you. I was going to save you and I couldn’t. And I… I’m so sorry, John!” I said.

I never let myself cry. That was something I had learned in the first few months at the facility. Tears were for the weak and they wouldn’t get you any pity, so I didn’t cry. But being here… I had lost him. I had lost both of them. Erik was deep underground by now. There was no chance that I would be able to get to him. He was gone and I… what was I? I was alone. I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face. Why did this keep happening to me? All of these terrible, horrible things. It wasn’t fair!

And that was just the bitch of it all, wasn’t it? Life wasn’t fair. I stood up and wiped my tears. I was just going to have to come to terms with that. It wasn’t like I had much choice otherwise. Erik was gone. I had lived without him before. John was dead. I had spent twelve years pretending that I was, what was the difference? I had a job to do, and it was time that I got back to it. I had spent too much time away. It was time to go home. I turned around and stopped in my tracks.

Jackie was standing in front of me. She was holding a bouquet of flowers, presumably for his grave. I was once again at a loss for words. This wasn’t how I was going to- she and I were never- I looked at the ground again.

“I didn’t mean to intrude. I’m sorry.” I said, starting to walk away.

“Who are you? No one was supposed to-”

“I’m just an old friend. I’ll be going now. It… it was nice to meet you, Jac- Mrs. Kennedy.”

“An old friend?”

I walked past her. She turned around. 

“It’s you, isn’t it? You’re her! You’re Skylar.”

How did she… no. There was no way. There was no way that she could have known that I was Skylar. Unless… John wouldn’t have told her. He would have kept my secret. But if he had told her stories… it wasn’t entirely impossible for her to have figured that out. I turned around and looked at her. I cast her a sad smile.

“Like I said, I’m an old friend. And it was nice to meet you, Jackie.”

I continued walking away. Jackie didn’t follow me. I didn’t look back. I took a shaky breath. I may not have liked this world as it was now, but I had to accept it for what it was. Erik was gone and John was dead. I didn’t need to live for other people. I never had. I could live on my own. I was on my own. And that was just the way that it was. 

Lucky me.

* * *

I walked through headquarters. George looked at me sadly. I didn’t say anything to him. I looked at the monitor in the main room. I had more things to focus on.

“I- I’m so sorry, Sky. I wish I could have-” George began.

“Stop. If you had been there, you would have died too. Or worse, been captured. Emma and Azazel were killed. Nev and Janey are dead, too. Magneto was taken captive. They won’t torture him. But we’ll never see him again.” I looked at George. “What’s the matter, George? I thought that you would be happy about that. Anyway, we have work to do now.”

“Woah, there, boss! Take a breath. Your brother just died.”

“I hadn’t seen him in twelve years.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that he was your family and you loved him.”

“And now he’s dead. I can’t change that. What I can do is my job, George, and I suggest that you do the same.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

* * *

“All right, so if we take the south entrance, we can get in and out in no time.” I said.

“We? In your condition, that ain’t happen’, boss.” George said.

“Meh, I’ll be fine.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about.”

“Oh, relax, would you? I’ve got it covered. I’m staying put, right here in HQ. You and two others are leaving. It’s a force of habit.”

“Right. Sorry. So, what am I doing?”

“Like I said-”

I had had my grieving period. I had come to terms with everything that I had done and everything that had happened to me. There had been some other… developments that had let that come into play. A lot of things had come into play to make me all right with it all. One of those things was a… a dark moment.

_I pointed the gun at the man’s head. He was holding up his hands, begging for mercy. Why did he deserve mercy? He was someone who tortured others for fun. He did it without a second glance. He didn’t deserve mercy._

_“How many times did people beg you for mercy?! How many times did you smile it off and laugh with your friends when you tortured them?! Why should you get what they were denied?!” I asked._

_I was breathing heavily. He didn’t deserve to live._

_“Wait don’t!” George knocked me to the ground. “You can’t kill this man, that’s not our way!”_

_“Like I give two shits about our way! He’s a murderer!”_

_“And you’ll be sinking to his level if you kill him!”_

_“He deserves it!”_

_“If you do this, then you’re stating that you’re really Azure. You’re throwing away the person John wanted you to be.”_

_“John is dead!”_

_“And this won’t bring him back! He’s gone. This won’t help you be any better. It will make it all worse. So much worse. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you couldn’t save him, but you can save this man. If you spare him now, he can change his ways.”_

_“Or he can start up and do it again.”_

_“That’s a chance you have to give him. You can’t kill him here. That’s not who you are.”_

_I looked back at the man. I dropped the gun. He ran off._

I had always seen killing as a moral grey area, in reality. Yes, I tried my best to stop Erik, but… well, I always knew that if the situation called for it, I would have killed someone. Charles was the first person who showed me that that wasn’t right. Losing so much had taken all of that away from me. George brought it back. Well, partially. Other things had had to happen to bring everything else back to me. 

You see, I was pregnant.

Quite the development. But the hope that that child brought was what returned me to who I used to be. That was what made me me again. I was never going to let anything happen to this kid. They were going to live a life that wasn’t filled with fear. They were never going to know what it was like to live in a cage and they would never feel the need to hide their mutation if they had one. I was going to make sure of that.


	6. Chapter 6

**_2023_ **

I closed my eyes. I had been thinking about those days a lot as of late. It had been a much different time. So many things that I should have done… things that I ignored because I thought that it would be better. Would I have been able to do something to stop all of this even then? Not that it mattered now. I looked over to Erik. He was looking out the window. There were many things that had kept us apart. I shook my head. I had more important things to be worried about, like getting us out of here and to the next location. I glanced at Charles. He was still trying to find them using Cerebro. I hoped he would hurry it along.

“I found them.” He said as if on cue.

He put the coordinates in my head and we were off. China. Hm. I had only been once. I turned the X-Jet. There were so few of us left. We had long since stopped worrying about who was right and wrong and started focusing on our survival. That was really all that we had now, if we had anything at all. There was a building that I was supposed to go to. I lowered the X-Jet carefully. I was nowhere near as good a pilot as Hank had been. I sighed. I missed him. I missed them all. I stood and walked to the back of the ship. Storm, Logan, Charles, and Erik had all already left. I walked outside and looked up at the sky. I no longer dreamed of flying in that sky. Bishop, Warpath, and Sunspot walked up to us. Bobby wasn’t far behind. Storm and Bobby embraced. I didn’t like being in the open. The Sentinels could have been anywhere. 

“Perhaps this is a conversation best continued inside. Shall we?” I said, walking towards the entrance.

Erik was next to me. “How are you feeling? Yesterday, you were-”

“I’m fine. Let’s just go.”

If I had acted differently, if my mutation hadn’t separated us so much, would Erik and I still have been together? I liked to think so. After that day in 1963, we had just sort of… stopped. He had managed to escape and then we’d never met again. Not under pleasant circumstances. He and I had too many differences. I regretted that now. Not that there was anything I could do about it. I continued walking. There was a sort of chamber that we all met in. We gathered in a circle around Kitty as she explained everything to us.

“Whenever the Sentinels attack, Warpath spots them and then I send send Bishop back to warn us of the attack before it happens.” Kitty explained. “Blink scouts the next site and then we leave before they ever even knew that we were there.”

“Because we never were.” Warpath said.

“What do you mean you were never there?” Logan asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

“She projects Bishop back in time a few days to warn the others of the coming attack.” Charles said.

“So she sends Bishop back in time?”

“No, just his consciousness, into his younger self. His younger body.”

Charles, Erik, and I had spent several nights discussing this. There was something that we could do. It was risky, but it had a chance of working. Right? It was our only hope. We didn’t have any other choice. Mutants were dying out and as much as I hated to admit it, we didn’t have much of a chance of survival. Not really.

“This just might work, Charles.” Erik said thoughtfully.

“What might work?” Kitty asked, looking up at Charles.

“The Sentinel program was originally conceived by Dr. Bolivar Trask.”

I winced. I had discovered back in 1973 that it was Bolivar Trask who had funded the facility that tortured me for so many years. Hearing his name was still a little painful for me. It made me think of those days. 

“In the early 70s, he was one of the world’s leading weapon designers, but covertly he had begun experimenting on mutants, using their gifts to fuel his own research. There was one mutant who discovered what he was doing.”

“A mutant with the ability to transform herself into anyone.” Erik added.

“Mystique.”

“I knew her as Raven. We met when we were children, grew up together. She was like a sister to me. I tried to help her, but only succeeded in driving her away. She hunted Trask across the world, and at the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, after the Vietnam War, she found Trask and killed him. It was the first time she killed.”

“It wasn’t her last.”

I remembered that day. I had been halfway across the world, working to free a group of mutants from another lab. I had more than once wondered if I could have stopped Raven if I had been there. I liked to think so, but it didn’t seem like anything would have been able to stop her. Raven had always been passionate about those things. Nothing could change her mind once she had decided to do something. I wasn’t even sure that Charles would have been able to stop her.

“But killing Trask did not have the outcome she expected.” I said. “Killing never does.”

“It only persuaded the government of the need for his program. They captured her that day. Tortured her, experimented on her. In her DNA, they discovered the secrets to her powers of transformation. It gave them the key they needed to create weapons that could adapt to any mutant power and in less than 50 years, the machines that have destroyed so many of our kind were created, but it all started that day in 1973. The day she first killed. The day she truly became Mystique.”

“You want to go back there.” Kitty said incredulously.

We had come up with worse plans. Like storming a beach on Cuba with a bunch of kids who had only been trained for a week, but hey. That worked out for us. Sort of. I mean, there were a few snags. I shook my head. More important things to focus on.

“If I can get to her, stop the assassination, keep her out of their hands… then we can stop the Sentinels from ever being born.”

“And stop this war before it begins.” Erik agreed.

“Uh, I can send someone back a couple of weeks. Maybe a month, but you’re talking about going back decades. You have the most powerful brain in the world, Professor, but the mind can only stretch so far before it snaps. It would rip you apart. I’m sorry. No one could survive that trip.”

“What if someone’s mind had a way of snapping back? What if someone can heal as fast as they’re ripped apart?” Logan said, looking at us all.

What if indeed. I looked over Logan. He really hadn’t changed at all. Like me, he had a healing factor. Well, his was far more effective than mine, so there was that. I wouldn’t have been able to do this. Logan pushed himself off of the wall and walked to the centre of the room. We were doing this. All right then. I leaned against a wall. 

“So I wake up in my younger body, God knows where. Then what?” Logan asked, looking at Charles.

“You’ll need to go to my house and find me. Convince me of all of this.”

“Won’t you be able to just read my mind?”

“I didn’t have my powers in 1973. Logan, you’re going to have to do for me what I once did for you. Lead me, _giude me._ I was a very different man then. You’ll have to be patient with me.”

“Patience is my strongest suit.”

Now was not the time for sarcasm. Who was I kidding? There was always time for sarcasm.

“You’ll need us as well.” I said, gesturing to Erik. “Though I may be a little easier to get to.”

“What?”

“Mystique always listened to me. She respected my opinion, even after she left Charles.”

“She came with me, then.” Erik said, shaking his head. “I set her on a dangerous path. A darker path. It’s going to take the three of us, side by side at a time when we couldn’t be further apart.”

I looked at him. I wondered how things would have been different if he hadn’t been captured that day. If I hadn’t been shot. Maybe we wouldn’t have been so far apart then. Maybe we wouldn’t be so far apart now.

“Great, so where do I find the two of you?” Logan sighed.

“Sky’ll be at her old headquarters, I guarantee it.” Erik said. “For me, well, it’s complicated. In 1973, I was in the Pentagon.”

“The Pentagon?”

“As a prisoner, yes.”

“Wonderful.”

“It is, isn’t it?” I said jokingly.

Making the mood lighter in this room was not a good idea, apparently. I sighed. We could do this. Logan could do this. I was younger then, yes, but if Charles asked me to go, I would. Right? I trusted him that much, didn’t I? Yes, I did. I still did today. Logan laid down on the table. Kitty was sitting in front of him, her hands on either side of his head.

“Basically, your body will go to sleep while your mind travels back in time. As long as you’re back there, past and present will continue to coexist, but once you wake up, whatever you’ve done will take hold and become history. And for the rest of us, it will be the only history that we know. It will be like the last 50 years never happened, and this world, and this war, the only person who will remember it is you. All right, Logan,” Kitty stretched her muscles, preparing for a long sit in, “I need you to clear your head and to stay as calm as possible.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“If your mind gets rocky, it will be harder for me to hold you, and you could start to slip between past and future.”

“What if I need to get a little rocky?” Logan asked a little worriedly.

“Think peaceful thoughts?”

“Peaceful thoughts… do you have any good news?”

“Well, you don’t really age, so you’ll pretty much look the same.”

“You won’t have much time in the past. The Sentinels will find us. They always do.” Bobby said, walking a little ways away.

Well, that was one way to bring down the mood. I pushed off of the wall and started pacing. I wasn’t even the one going under and I was nervous. I knew what was at stake here. I hoped that he would be able to do this.

“And this time, we won’t be able to run. We’ll have no escape.” She looked at at Charles, Erik, and myself. “This is our last chance.”

I nodded. I knew that. Our last chance. I had faith in Logan. He was a strong individual. He’d be able to convince them that this was the right thing to do. He’d bring us back together. Now, whether we’d be entirely willing to stay together was a whole other problem he would have to face. My younger self would most certainly present a problem. I had never been able to decide between Charles and Erik when it came to what was right and wrong. They both had their points. That was why I went off with George to follow my own path. Erik looked at Charles and me.

“You really think this will work?” He asked quietly.

“I have faith in him.” Charles responded without looking at Erik.

“It’s not him I’m worried about.” Erik sighed. “It’s us. We were young, we didn’t know any better.”

“We will now.”

“See you all soon.” Logan said.

Kitty formed the link and Logan yelled in pain, his claws extending. I prayed that he would be able to save us all. He was our last hope.


	7. Chapter 7

**_1973_ **

Ten years. 1973. Hm. There had been a lot of interesting developments.

My healing factor worked… well, it worked as an “age deterrent”, of sorts. I aged at a fifth of the rate of the average human. I had no idea how to feel about that, but hey. I was 36 and looked like I was 28. Who was I to complain? It made it hard to explain to Adrian. Adrian was my son. He was 9 years old now. I loved him more than anything in the world and I tried my hardest to keep him away from the horrors of the world without keeping him locked in a cage of my own design. He knew that there were bad people. He knew that his father was considered one of them. I didn't want him to be afraid the way that I had been. I did my best. He was just a kid, after all. George helped. The two got along well enough. I made sure that George knew his place as well. He had always held a certain jealousy for Erik and I didn’t want him to turn my son against his father.

I shook my head. I had more important things to be worried about. Around the time that Adrian turned six, I started to go on missions again. Just a few, here and there. It was the best thing for both of us, I liked to think. At least, it felt right. I needed to help people and I wanted Adrian to have a good role model. Especially with his mutation. He had the ability to cast images and create mirages. I’d caught him once or twice creating images of Erik that he could talk to. They weren’t really accurate, but it made him feel better. It got especially tricky with monsters under the bed. It seemed that Adrian had inherited my pension for nightmares. I sang the lullaby that Erik sang to me when I had bad dreams. It always worked like a charm. I was convinced that Erik’s ancestors were magical. It never failed to calm anyone down, from what I had seen. I was glad that I was able to give Adrian at least that part of him.

I walked to the armoury and grabbed my bow. This was going to be a long night and I didn’t want to take any chances. I didn’t tend to take big risks anymore. I was the only parent that Adrian had. One day, Erik would come back and we’d all be together, but for now, it was just me. And I was fine with that. Adrian was all that I really needed to keep me going. I stuck it to my back and looked out over the two people that were going with me. Both fresh faces. Both people that would be able to watch my back. I trusted them.

“Sky, you’ve got visitors. They’re by the front entrance.” George said over the intercom.

“I’m about to leave on a mission. Can’t they come back later?” I groaned.

“Sorry, boss. They’re pretty adamant. Some guy named Hank says he’s been looking for you.”

Hank? Why was Hank here? And if he was here, then that meant Charles was too. Well, if Charles was here then he knew that I had more important things to be doing. But he had come here from New York. Dammit. 

“Kilo, you’re going with Ura and Gina. Be careful and don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do. I’ve got some business to attend to here. Be careful.” I added a second time just to really reiterate it.

I cast my bow aside and walked through to the front of the complex. This wasn’t frustrating at all. I went to the front door. To say that I was shocked would have been an understatement. I realised in that moment how long it had been since I’d seen Hank. And he wasn’t blue. Or furry. In fact, he looked just like he had 10 years ago. A little older, but all in all, the same. And Charles. Charles was walking? How was that even possible? He had let his hair grow long. It reached his shoulders now. I could see in his eyes that he was… sad. Scared. I saw that look in my people here when they first arrived. I looked from him to Hank curiously. And then I took in the third man. Where the hell had they found him? He looked like he had just come from a zoo. His sideburns were ridiculous. He had a cigar. Charles usually hated smokers. What was going on here? He looked like he had just walked out of a bar.

I crossed my arms. I could only imagine how I looked. I had already gotten ready to leave on this mission, so I was in my armour. I had no idea who the third man was. I didn’t like not knowing.

“Holy shit. You’re older than I thought you’d be.” The new guy said.

“Gee, thanks, strange man who just walked into my building. Charles, what’s going on? Why are you here? More importantly, how the hell are you walking?” I ignored him.

“We need your help. I promise to explain everything, but we need to find Erik.” Charles said.

“Are you insane? Did someone hit you upside the head? Or are you being controlled? You said yourself you wouldn’t help me get him out of there because he was where he belonged.”

“You do realise that he killed your brother, yes?”

“It’s more complicated than that, Charles.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter now. What does matter is that we _need_ your help.” The man said.

“And why should I listen to you? I’ve never even seen you before. For all I know, you’ve done something to Charles here.”

He held up his hand and let three claws protrude from his skin. I turned my head to the side. Curious. He wasn’t bleeding. He must’ve had a healing factor like I did. 

“My name is Logan. In my time, you call me Wolverine.” He began.

“Your time?”

“I’m from the future. I was sent here by you, Charles, and Erik to stop Raven before she kills Trask. If she kills him, then it will trigger a war that will end all mutants.”

“Except for you, because you’re from the future. Right. Charles, why have you brought him here? I’m rather busy, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“With Adrian, right? He’d be about 9 now.” Logan said, counting the years on his fingers.

“How do you-”

“You and I are friends. Or will be, one day. I’m here to help you stop the end.”

He knew about Adrian. Not even Charles knew about Adrian. No one outside of this facility knew. It was one of the ways that I was protecting him. Erik and I both had enemies. I wasn’t going to let them use my son to get to us. And now this man came in and he knew. He knew Adrian’s name, he knew his _age_. No one outside of this facility knew and they wouldn’t betray me like that. So he had to be from the future. Right? Charles was looking at me curiously. He should have known as soon as he walked in with his powers but he looked more confused than anyone else. What was going on? Logan was from the future.

“So you just want me to help you break Erik out of the Pentagon? Simple as that? How, exactly, are you planning on doing that?”

“I know a guy. Lives in D.C. Should be a piece of cake.” Logan said.

A piece of cake. Right.

“I can’t leave.” I said. “Send Erik my regards, but I’ve got more important things to worry about.”

I turned on my heel. Was I really doing this? Just walking away. Why was I walking away? If he really was from the future- no. That was crazy. I was being crazy. He knew about Adrian. That didn’t mean much. Someone could have told him. It wasn’t impossible for Charles to have known. But there was that confused look on his face, so he clearly had no idea. No. I couldn’t really be thinking that Logan was from the future. Charles _was_ with him. I would be helping them get out Erik. I had wanted to do that for a long time. Well, I used to, anyway. I had to continue walking. One foot in front of the other. I had to walk away. I had to leave. 

“Why will Raven killing one man cause a war?” I asked.

“His Sentinel program. Sentinels can detect mutants. In my time, they can adapt to any target and kill them. They were adapted to detect those that would have mutant children, or grandchildren.” Logan said. “If he’s killed by a mutant-”

“Then the government will launch the program. Shit. Erik was right all along.” I shook my head. “All right. I’ll go with you. Just… give me time to change and… make arrangements.”

They nodded. I walked away. I went to my quarters. I had a room that was adjoined to Adrian’s. I regretted that he didn’t have a real house. That he didn’t get to have a yard and a dog running around. A father that wasn’t in jail for something he didn’t do. I looked to the door that would lead to his room. He would be asleep now. I sighed. I took off my armour and laid it across the bed. I pulled on a t-shirt, flannel, and some jeans that looked clean. As I was pulling on my boots, my door opened. George walked through.

He had changed in the last ten years as well. That wasn’t really surprising. His hair was longer and he liked to wear a leather jacket all the time now.

“You’re leaving?” He asked.

“Yes.”

“Where are you going?”

“D.C.”

“To him?”

“Well, I don’t see how that’s your concern.”

“It’s Adrian’s concern. Are you taking him, too?”

“Of course not. I’m leaving him here, with you, until I get back. It shouldn’t be too long. We’ve got some… things to take care of. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“What should I tell him?” 

“That I’m off on a mission.”

It wasn’t really a lie. This _was_ a mission, of sorts. The kind of mission that I would have gone on 11 years ago. It would be better if Adrian didn’t know that I was leaving to rescue his father, at least for right now. I walked to my bedside table and pulled open the drawer. There were two things in this drawer: an old story written by my late friend Monica about fallen angels and a small pair of metal wings. After Erik had been captured, I’d stopped carrying the wings and left them here most days. Something about today, about leaving to find Erik, made me want to take them with me. I put them in my pocket and closed the drawer again. I turned to face George. He didn’t look happy with me.

“I’ll be back soon, I promise. Just… give me time.”

“Be careful. He’s dangerous.”

“Yeah, well, not to me.”

I really believed that. He had never done anything to hurt me. Well, nothing that would _actually_ hurt me. He had left me attached to a wall for several hours so he could face Shaw on his own. Then I kicked him in the chest in retaliation. Maybe we didn’t have the healthiest of relationships, but hey. We were mutants who lead other mutants. It was the best that we could hope for. Though, Erik wouldn’t have much to lead anymore. The Brotherhood of Mutants had disbanded after he was captured. Maybe he’d be able to start up again, but I doubted it. I shook my head and walked into Adrian’s room. He was asleep. Good. I was afraid that he’d be deep inside one of his own illusions. I sat on the edge of his bed and kissed his forehead. I smoothed his hair from his head. He had my dark hair and Erik’s eyes. Thank god for that. My eyes were a dull grey and Erik’s were a blue-green colour. I stood and walked back down to the front, grabbing a jacket before I got to the three of them.

“All right. Let’s go.” I said, putting my hands in my pockets. “Just so you know, Erik thinks I’m dead. I don’t know how he’s going to react to seeing me. Or if he’ll even want to.”

He’d probably hate me for not coming to him sooner. I know that I would have. As soon as he realised that I was alive, that’s what he would think of me. Unfortunately, this wasn’t just about getting Erik out of prison. It was about saving all of us from a fate that was worth than death. It was about saving Adrian’s future. 50 years from now. I would be… 86 years old, and I would look to be 51. Erik would be going on 90. 50 years into the future. Would we still be together after all of that time?

Or would this change all of that?


	8. Chapter 8

I looked at Charles. He had never answered my question about why he was walking. He also didn’t seem to care about all of the curses I had sent his way. What was going on? I decided to ask him about it later. That, and why Hank wasn’t Beast. What had gone on while I was here? Was Charles even still teaching? He was taking an awfully long trip _away_ from his school. Not that I was necessarily any better. I was leaving my son alone for who knew how long. But I was coming back. Hopefully, as soon as we got Erik out. They wouldn’t need me for much else, right? Probably. Hopefully. Maybe? I shook my head. I kept on allowing myself to get distracted. It was a bad habit that I had to get out of. 

Four people piled into a small car? I wasn’t a fan of that at all. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much choice. It wasn’t like I could just whip out my wings and go flying across country. Well, I could have, but then I would have been shot down and put back into yet another cage. Not that this car was much better in my opinion. I was leaning against the window. Hank and I were in the back. Logan was in the front on the passenger side while Charles was driving. I didn’t like that Charles could walk. There was something going on. I had to figure it out. Well, it was probably most logical to just ask him what was going on. He would tell me. Right? If I asked he would. It was Charles. He trusted me and I trusted him. He was my friend. At least, I hoped he still was. After I had asked for his help getting Erik out in 1967, we hadn’t really talked much. I couldn’t really blame him.

The car stopped in front of a suburban house. This was where we were going to find someone who could get Erik out of prison? Really? I mean, Erik was hundreds of feet below the Pentagon in a concrete prison. Was it someone like George who could move the earth beneath him? I didn’t really care, as long as he could help. I got out of the car. Before Charles got too far, I grabbed his arm.

“Hey, what’s going on with you? How are you walking?” I asked. “I need to know before we go any farther.”

“Well, then tell me who Adrian is.”

“Wait. You don’t know?” 

How could he not know? He could read my mind. Though I hadn’t felt him rooting around in there at all. In fact, even when I had first seen him, there had been nothing. 

“Your powers?”

“Your son?”

“What happened to them?”

“The treatment for my spine affects my legs.”

“You’d rather walk than… oh. Oh, of course.”

Charles had once described what it was like having all those voices in his head. He said it was like having everyone else’s pain constantly shoved into his head so there was no room for his own. It was painful. I took his hand.

“It got worse, didn’t it?” He nodded. “I’m so sorry, Charles.”

“Yes, well, we need to go. They’re waiting for us.”

Charles walked in front of me. I watched him walking away. I sighed and followed. There wasn’t much that I’d be able to do, was there? His powers were gone. I stopped in front of the door and looked at the mat. What the hell could create scorch marks like that? Just what was this guy’s mutation? Logan seemed sure that he could help us get in virtually undetected. I wasn’t so sure how I felt about him. Logan, I meant. I sort of believed that he was from the future. It wasn’t really that far-stretched in this world of mutants. Logan knocked on the door. A woman answered. She had long brown hair and didn’t look surprised to see us. Just annoyed.

“What’s he done know?” She sighed. “I’ll just write a check for whatever he took.”

“We just want to talk to him.” Logan promised.

She sighed again and let us in. “Peter! The cops are here! Again.”

How often did this kid get into trouble? Enough for his mother to assume that we were the police, apparently. She took us to the entrance to the basement. I thanked her as the others entered. I wasn’t sure what we were doing with a kid who was clearly a delinquent. Actually, I took back that statement. I knew exactly why we were coming for this guy. I walked down the steps to the basement. It was like a teenager’s paradise, with arcade games and food. Food everywhere. And a bunch of stolen TVs. No wonder his mom thought that we were cops. I couldn’t really blame her. Peter was in the centre of the room playing table tennis. With himself. That… that was new. I had never met someone who could move so quickly. Or teleport? No. I had seen teleportation. They left a sort of residue. This was just moving really quickly.

“What do you guys want? I didn’t do anything.” Peter moved to the couch. “I’ve been here all day.”

I believed him. Not that it mattered, anyway. We weren’t cops. We were just people here to use his unique skills to break probably one of the most wanted men in the world out of jail. 

“Just relax, Peter. We’re not cops.” Logan said.

“Of course you’re not.” He said.

Telepathic, too? No, that didn’t make any sense. He would know why we were here by now if he was a telepath.

“If you were, you wouldn’t be driving a rental car.” Peter was talking fast too. 

“How did you know we’ve got a rental car?” Charles asked.

“I checked your registration when you were walking through the door. I also had some time to kill so I went through your rental agreement. Saw you were out of town. Are you FBI?”

How fast was this kid, anyway? He ran around and grabbed Charles’s wallet. He looked through it.

“No, you’re not cops. Hey, what’s with this ‘gifted youngsters’ place?” He dropped the card and the wallet.

“That’s an old card.” Charles said as he bent to pick it up.

What? An old card? Did Charles shut down the school? Was that why he had given up his powers? I had no idea. I should have tried to contact him again. I shouldn’t have abandoned him like that. I had been so focused on my own life that I had forgotten to worry about the others that I cared about.

“He is fascinating.” Hank said, trying to watch Peter’s moves.

“He’s a pain in the arse.” Charles was getting annoyed.

Something that I did _not_ find amusing. At all. Not even slightly.

“What, a teleporter?”

“No, he’s just fast. When I knew him he wasn’t so… young.” Logan sighed, trying to find where he went.

“Young? You’re just old.” Peter scoffed.

“So you’re not afraid to show your powers?” Hank asked.

“What powers? What are you talking about? Do you see something strange here?” Peter was back on the couch, lounging around. “Nothing anybody would believe if you told them. So, who are you? What do you want?”

“We need your help, Peter.”

“For what?”

“To break into a highly secured facility and get someone out.” I said.

Someone would tell him who eventually. Probably. It wasn’t going to be me. Probably. At least not right now. I mean, I had told him basically all that he needed to know for the time being. I took a deep breath. Getting Erik out. That was the goal. I felt a little bad for just using this kid, but we needed him. We needed Erik. 

“Prison break? That’s illegal, you know.”

He moved to the pac-man machine. Could he just sit still for a moment? This was ridiculous. I looked around his room. He couldn’t really be worried about this being illegal. We had to give him something to make it more interesting than a simple prison break. Well, that was an obvious solution. I sighed. I had no reason to say anything. I was just waiting to see what Future Man would say.

“Well, only if you get caught.” Logan said.

“So, what’s in it for me?”

“You, you little kleptomaniac,” Charles began, chuckling like he couldn’t believe that these words were about to leave his mouth, “get to break into the Pentagon.”

Peter turned around. We had clearly piqued his interest. Thank God. He still looked reluctant. I wondered why that was?

“How do I know I can trust you?”

Finally, someone who was being logical. It was never wise to just assume that you could trust someone. It was an ideal that I lived by. I had also had very good reason to not trust people, given what I did for a job of sorts. There were plenty of people out there who wanted me dead. I didn’t trust anyone. I didn’t trust Erik for a long time. The feeling had been mutual. 

“Because we’re just like you.” Logan said.

“Show him.” Charles responded.

Logan extended his claws. I got a chance to see them up close. They were bone and protruded from his knuckles. That was one sort of mutation. And I had been right before, about his healing factor. There were no scars, no cuts. He healed, just like me. Again, it was clearly faster acting than my own. Peter looked intrigued and disgusted by the whole thing.

“That’s cool, but it’s disgusting.”

The plan was simple enough. You know, as simple as a plan to break into the Pentagon could be. Hank would bring a broadcast signal into the building. The four of us, that being Charles, Logan, Hank, and I, would go on a tour. Logan, Charles, and I would break off and make for the kitchen while Hank stayed on the tour. Peter would, at this point, already be down in the cell. Erik was feed lunch at noon on the dot everyday. That was going to be his ticket in. There were guards everywhere. It was up to Peter to get in there undetected and then get Erik out alive. He would be able to do it. He was fast enough. I had some faith in him. You know. Enough. Probably. Moving on. Charles, Logan, and I would wait for the elevator to open and then we would try to get Erik out without being stopped. Or shot. Man, this was going to be difficult, wasn’t it? Why I was just now realising that, I would never know.

So, the plan began. I didn’t pay attention to what the tour guide was saying. I focused on knowing where to get off. There was one place. It would be simple enough to break away. The guards out here weren’t paying attention to the tours. They were keeping their eyes out for suspicious characters and I wasn’t a part of that category. I looked about as normal as they came. So did Charles. Logan, well, that was a little bit more questionable. We walked a little bit farther. The tour guide looked away. It was time. I hit Charles’s arm lightly. He nodded. We split off. There was a door. It was unlocked. We ran down the stairs towards the kitchen. An alarm went off and the sprinklers broke. Erik was free. It was all just a matter of time now, wasn’t it?

“Right then, Charles, what’s your plan?” I asked.

“I… erm…”

“Wonderful.”

“I’ll come up with something. Don’t worry about it..”

“I’m worried about it.”

This was going to go great. We were all gonna get trapped and be cell mates with Erik. How great would that be? The old team back together again. How fantastic.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is a Code Red situation.” Charles began.

Oh God. This was going to go horribly wrong.

“We are evacuating the entire floor… so that my associate and I… can, uh, secure the prison.”

We were so screwed. There was no way that this was going to work. Charles was terrible at thinking on his feet. It was too late to intervene with words. Maybe a quick run around with my wings. No, that wouldn’t be fast enough. Hm.

“Who are you?” One of the people asked.

“We're special operations, CB… FB-CID. Perhaps you didn't hear me when first I spoke… but it is imperative that you understand… we're in a complete lockdown situation. We have to get you to the third floor…”

Logan beat me. He went into action first, taking out the people with ease. I was impressed and Charles was a little bit dazed.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Were you finished?” Logan asked.

“He’s right. That was a _terrible_ plan. I thought you were good at this?” I said jokingly.

“I used to be.”

“I jest out of love, Charles.”

I looked at the elevator doors. Any second now, and he’d be here. I tapped my foot impatiently.

“I’m sorry, Logan. I’m not very good with violence.” Charles sighed.

That was a bit of an understatement.

The door opened. Our eyes met. He looked at me in shock. I couldn’t find the words to actually say anything at all. I seemed to have that problem a lot after reunions.

“Sky?”


	9. Chapter 9

The door opened. Our eyes met. He looked at me in shock. I couldn’t find the words to actually say anything at all. I seemed to have that problem a lot after reunions.

“Sky?” Erik said in disbelief.

Erik had a small beard. His hair hadn’t grown much. Apparently, someone was trimming it for him. His eyes were wide in shock. He didn’t seem angry. Maybe he wasn’t. Or wouldn’t be. Or something. I couldn’t think of anything to say to him. I hadn’t seen him in ten years, after all. He took two steps towards me before Charles punched him in the face. The action broke both Erik and I from our trance. I shook my head. We had to focus on getting out of here in one piece.

“It’s good to see you too, old friend.” Erik chuckled, rubbing his jaw. “And walking.”

“No thanks to you.” Charles spat.

I really hoped that I wouldn’t have to be the moderator here. That wasn’t what I had signed up for. Knowing these two, I would have no choice. They would probably try to kill each other at some point. Erik would win. Charles had no powers. He couldn’t do anything except for punch Erik in the face, apparently. This was going to be _great_. What had my future self been thinking, gathering the three of us like this? It was going to end poorly for everyone involved. Erik’s eyes were narrow. He was calculating something. From the smirk on his face, I could see that he was enjoying this immensely. Well, he was free, after all. Peter was standing a little awkwardly in the corner, like he didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t really paying attention to him. Despite my attempts to clear my head, I was still a little shocked that we had actually pulled this off and that Erik was here in front of me now.

“You're the last person in the world I expected to see today.” Erik said.

“Believe me… I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to.” Charles said darkly. “If we get you out of here, we do it my way. No killing.”

“No helmet. I couldn't disobey you even if I wanted.”

“I'm never getting inside of that head again. I need your word, Erik.”

Well, it was time to see if Erik was capable of not killing people. Our time was up. Dammit. The guards had come here. They were using plastic guns. All right, well, we had to come up with an escape plan, that was all. Something. I could do this. I closed my eyes and took a breath. I had gotten out of worse situations with less.

“Hold it right there!” One of the guards yelled, pulling me from my concentration.

“Charles.” Erik said expectantly.

Right. He didn’t know that Charles was basically useless in this situation. The way that it stood now, Logan and I were the only ones getting out of here alive. Well, Peter could probably manage it. 

“Don't move. Hands up, or we will shoot!”

“Freeze them, Charles.”

“I can't.”

Erik looked at Charles incredulously. Well, since that clearly wasn’t going to work, it was time to focus again. I saw Erik’s face darken and I knew what he was planning. Surrounded by all of this metal? There was no choice, not for him. I moved, pushing against his chest to distract him as all of the metal in the room started to vibrate around us.

“Erik, don’t!” I yelled.

The guards fired. But it apparently… didn’t matter? The bullets didn’t hit us. Any of us. And all of the guards were down. But… but how? None of us had had a chance to move a muscle. Peter… of course it had been Peter. Peter was on the other side of the room, smiling, clearly proud of himself. As he should have been. He probably just saved Charles and Erik’s lives. We all owed him. Well, they did. I wouldn’t have died either way. Just a perk of having the healing factor, I supposed. Erik and I had ended up against a wall. His hands were on my waist. I pushed myself away from him. That felt a little better, but at the same time, wrong.

“Thanks, kid.” Logan breathed.

Yeah. We owed Peter. For now, it would be best just to get out of here. There was a back exit that we really had no choice but to use. I took Erik’s hand and started to run. A part of me didn’t care if the others followed or not, but they did, so I didn’t really have to worry about it. The car was close by. Hank had done exactly as he was supposed to. We piled in and Hank drove. No one said anything as the drive continued to the private airplane Charles had. Of course he had a private jet. The car stopped on the tarmac and we all got out. I went straight for the plane. Erik was close behind me.

“I never thought I’d see you again.” He said softly. “I thought you had died.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t. You need to change. Here.” I handed him a shirt and pair of khakis.

“Thank you.”

I nodded. Erik walked into the small bathroom at the back of the plane to get changed. I heard him exclaim in pain. I furrowed my brow and walked back there. He was shaving and he had cut himself along his jawline. I leaned back against the door and shook my head.

“I thought you were supposed to control metal.” I sighed. “Move aside. Bloody amateur.”

Erik shrugged and handed me the razor. I carefully started to shave his face. I knew that he didn’t need me to do this. Erik was an expert at things like this. In all the years I had known him, I had never once seen him cut his face while shaving. I finished rather quickly. I used a towel to wipe down his cheeks and reviewed my handy work. He looked in the mirror.

“Well, you’ve looked worse.” I said with a chuckle.

“I’ll take that as a compliment, my dear.” Erik responded. “You came for me.”

“Well, duh. I made a promise that you’d never be alone, remember? What kind of a person would I be if I didn’t keep my promises?” 

He turned away from the mirror to face me. “You’d be like me.”

“Well, that’s already something that’s come and gone, so tough.”

Erik looked down on me, the bright lights of the bathroom beaming down on us. He was only a few inches away from me now. His eyes met mine. They were filled with affection and regret. Loss. I hadn’t really considered how he would react _positively_ to finding out that I was alive. I know. Insane, but that was just the way that I had pictured it. I had thought he would be furious that I hadn’t tried to come to his rescue sooner. It wasn’t from some previous experience I had had with him, it was more just because of my own insecurities. I was so certain that he… well, it didn’t matter now, did it? I started to reach for the door. Erik caught my hand.

“We should-” I began.

“Thank you.” He said.

Erik leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. I had forgotten what it felt like to kiss him. To be this close to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck. Erik pushed me back against the sink, holding onto me tightly, like he was afraid to let go for even an instant. Like I was going to melt away and he would realise that it had all be a dream. I wasn’t much better. I couldn’t believe that he was here, in front of me. 

He pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. 

“I’ve been dreaming of that for ten years. I never thought I’d get to do it again.” He breathed.

“Me neither.” I admitted. “Come on. We need to go.” I walked out of the bathroom. 

I took a seat by a window like I always did. Logan walked in and lit a cigar. I leaned back in my chair. Erik walked out and reached for the newspaper on the table in front of Logan. Logan extended his claws to keep in front of him. Erik gave up and started to walk away.

“Imagine if they were metal.” He said in what sounded like a joking tone but felt like a threat.

He sat next to me in the chair facing Logan. Almost instinctively, he put a protective arm around me.

“Where did they dig you up?” He asked.

“You're gonna find this hard to believe… but, uh, you sent me. All three of you. From the future.” Logan said.

Erik looked at me. I shrugged. There was no accounting for my current level of sanity. It was pretty low on the bar. I looked at Erik. I knew there were a lot of things that Erik and I had to talk about. It wasn’t like here was the best place for it all. Maybe after we stopped Raven from killing Trask. Yes, that would be the best time to start the discussion. I had enough to say to him to last a lifetime. Hank and Charles got on the plane finally and we were in the air. Charles was on one side of the plane. Erik and I were in the middle, and Logan was on the opposite side from Charles, closest to the door. No one was really talking. It was a great flight.

After about a half hour of flying, Erik looked over at Charles and asked the question that we all wanted to hear Charles say the answer to.

“How did you lose them?” 

“The treatment for my spine affects my DNA.” Charles responded, avoiding Erik’s gift.

“You sacrificed your powers so you could walk?”

“I sacrificed my powers so that I could sle-.” He finally looked at Erik, just for a moment. “What do you know about it?”

“I've lost my fair share.” Erik glanced at me.

“Ha. Dry your eyes, Erik. It doesn't justify what you've done.”

“You have no idea what I've done.”

Well, this wasn’t looking very good, was it? I knew that I was going to have to be the moderator. Erik wasn’t looking to happy. Charles just looked pissed. He had a right to be. Erik had done some pretty shady things, but so had I. The two of us both deserved the wrath of Charles.

“I know that you took the things that mean the most to me.”

“Well, maybe you should have fought harder for them.” Erik countered.

“If you want a fight, Erik…”

Erik was standing now. This was not good. I was failing as a moderator. Not that I could do anything anyway.

“Sit down.” I said to Erik, holding onto his arm.

“...I will give you a fight!”

“Let him come.” Erik shook me off.

“You abandoned me! You took her away… and you abandoned me!” Charles grabbed Erik’s shirt.

I could see the fury that was threatening to overtake Erik. Charles couldn’t. He was too enveloped in his own world.

“Angel.” Erik began. “Azazel. Emma. Banshee.” I winced. Emma and Azazel were my fault. “Mutant brothers and sisters… all dead! Countless others… experimented on. Butchered!”

As Erik spoke, the plane’s frame started to crumble in on itself. I held onto my chair for dear life as the plane started to take a nosedive. Shit. Shit shit shit! I had to calm Erik down or we would all die. Unfortunately, when he got into this state, not even I could calm him down. And he had every right to be like this. I had felt this anger myself, in 1967, when Charles refused to help me. He hadn’t seemed to care about what could have been happening to Erik while he was in that prison. He had never seemed to care about the horrible experiments that other mutants were forced into. He had given up his powers to reduce his suffering while others had no choice.

“Where were you, Charles? We were supposed to protect them! Where were you when your  
own people needed you? Hiding! You and Hank! Pretending to be something you're not!”

The plane fell faster. Charles was struggling to stop from falling. Erik was anchored to the ground, towering above us all. I stood up and grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at me.

“Erik!” I said, hoping to anchor him to now.

“You abandoned us all.” He said.

The plane corrected itself. Charles stood and walked to the cockpit. I sat back in my chair and looked out the window. I didn’t want to admit it, but it was true. Everything that Erik had said was true. Charles had ignored the rest of us. I shook my head. He had tried for a long time. He really had. But something changed and then he just… Erik was right. I closed my eyes and leaned against the window. Erik was still standing, trying to get himself to calm down.

“So, you were always an asshole.” Logan said, relighting his cigar.

“I take it we're best buddies in the future.” Erik said sarcastically.

“I spent a lot of years trying to bring you down, bub.”

“How does that work out for you?”

Apparently, we all got buddy buddy and started to work together, that was how.

“You're like me. You're a survivor.” Logan looked around. “Do you wanna pick all that shit up?”

Erik looked at the mess he had made. I shrugged. He was the one who had to clean up after himself. I hadn’t played any part in that. That was all him and his temper tantrum.

* * *

“Fancy a game? It's been awhile.” Erik set a chess table down in front of Charles. 

I was still in my seat, looking out across the darkened sky. We had all remained silent. Charles had eventually come back into his seat and was promptly ignoring the rest of us. I was curious to see how this interaction was going to play out. I was intending to be a far better moderator if it took a turn for the worse, that was for damn sure. I lazily turned my head to face them.

“I'm not in the mood for games, thank you.” Charles said curtly.

Erik poured himself a glass of scotch, savouring the taste. “I haven't had a real sip in ten years.”

Charles still didn’t look like he cared. Well, there was one thing that I could say that would change this situation right quick.

“Erik didn’t kill the President, Charles.” I said.

That should do it.

“I know you want to see the best in him, Sky, but the bullet curved.”

“Because I was trying to save him. They shot Sky and took me out before I could.” Erik said.

“Why would you try and save him? Even if he _was_ Sky’s brother. You wouldn’t have risked yourself to save him.”

I hated to say it, but that was probably true. He had said otherwise, but who knew?

“Because he was one of us.”

Charles’s eyes widened with his realisation, then narrowed again as he thought about something else. “You must think me so foolish. You've always said they would come after us.”

“I never imagined they'd use Raven's DNA to do it.”

“When did you last see her?”

“The day I left for Dallas.”

“And how was she?”

“Strong. Driven. Loyal. I could see why she meant so much to you.” Erik had a faint smile across his lips. He looked at Charles. “You should be proud of her, Charles. She's out there fighting for our cause.”

“Your cause. The girl I raised was not capable of killing.”

“You didn't raise her, you grew up with her. She couldn't stay a little girl forever, that's why she left.”

“She left because you got inside her head.”

I prepared myself to moderate. 

“That's not my power. She made a choice.”

“But now we know where that choice leads, don't we? She's going to murder Trask, they're going to capture her…”

“-And then they're going to wipe us out.” Erik said solemnly.

“Not if we get to her first. Not if we change history tomorrow.”

Ah, Charles and his hope. It would never cease to amaze me, well and truly amaze me. Even when he had lost everything else, he always had that hope in humanity. The hope that they would be better than Erik thought they would be. I wished that I had that hope. I saved mutants to avoid confronting what I really thought about humanity. It was a real problem and something that I really needed to confront.

“I'm sorry, Charles… for what happened. I truly am.” Erik sat down in front of him.

“It's been awhile since I've played.” Charles said, desperate to change the subject.

“I'll go easy on you. Might finally be a fair fight.”

“You have the first move.”

Erik used his powers to move the chess piece, taking a sip of his drink. I leaned back in my chair and allowed myself to relax. Just like the good old days.


	10. Chapter 10

We landed in Paris a couple of hours before the summit. We had to find a quick way there before Raven killed Trask. That was the only way that we could stop the future that Logan knew. We were running. There was no chance of catching a cab, not this time. I would have used my wings, but Paris was so populated. I would be spotted in an instant. So, we were running. We had to reach the building soon. It wasn’t going to take us that long, hopefully. I really had no idea how long this was going to take. How far away was it? We had no time frame. There was no time. According to Logan, this was our only shot. I believed that. I pushed myself to move faster. Erik was right by my side. Charles was on the other one. We were a team again. I used to believe that the three of us could take on the world. We probably could have back when we had first met. There was this rift between us now. I wasn’t sure that we’d ever be able to close it.

I shook my head. I could worry about that once this was all over. Once we had stopped Raven. I liked to think that she would be the decided factor in our divide. We all had a vested interest in her. We all loved her like she was our little sister. If we could save her from herself, then we could go back to how we used to be. That was what I really wanted. I wanted Adrian to live with his father and Charles. I wanted him to know what it was like to have a real family. A whole family. Charles was family to me. Raven was family to me. I didn’t want to live through a future where I had to see them die. That sounded like hell to me. I looked over at Charles. I wanted him to have his powers back. Not for me. For him. He was Charles, yes, but not really. He was a broken and beaten version of Charles. I was doing this for him just as much as I was doing it for her. 

We stopped in front of the building. Well, we weren’t getting in the front door without Charles’s powers. I turned and looked. Service entrance. Perfect. I ran towards it. We were running out of time. It had taken longer to get here than I had thought it would. We could already have been too late. Still, I had to keep a positive outlook on the whole situation. I could be positive. Probably. I turned a corner to the stairs. The summit was on the second floor. The conference hall was the centre room. We ran a little farther. I held up my arms. People were fleeing the room. Were we too late? Raven hadn’t killed Trask. We would have heard the gunshot. We probably only had moments left. We ran to the door and there she was. Pointing a gun at Trask’s head.

“Raven!” Charles said.

It was enough of a distraction to make her look over at us. I could see the emotions flickering in her eyes as she tried to determine why we were here. I never even saw the man pull out his taser. He fired it at Raven, the pins lodging in her skin. She fell against the table and started to convulse. Trask was holding some sort of device that he kept pointing at all of us. He had a mix of terror and amazement on his face and cold curiosity in his eyes. I shook my head and turned to Raven. Charles was by her side. Erik used his powers to put the hooks into the neck of the man who had shot her in the first place. He hit the ground. Hard. Good. Charles smoothed back Raven’s hair, smiling down at her. 

“Charles?” She asked, still shaking.

“We've come for you, Sky, Erik, and I. Together.” Charles said in a comforting voice.

It was good to see the two of them together again. There had been something missing in both of their lives. I had seen it inside of them whenever I’d run into them. Now, all seemed right with the world. They were reunited.

“I never thought I'd see you again.”

“I made you a promise a long time ago that I would protect you. I'm going to keep you safe. I'm going to keep you out of their hands.”

I looked at Erik. What was he thinking about? He held up his hand and pulled the gun to himself. No. He couldn’t seriously be thinking about killing her! But he could. That was what he did. That was what made him Erik Lehnsherr. No. That was what made him Magneto. And he would actually kill her, too. It didn’t matter that she was like a sister to him. 

“Erik?” Raven said, looking up at him. 

Well, at least I wasn’t the only one who had noticed his murderous intent.

“Erik? What are you doing?”

“Securing our future. Forgive me, Mystique. As long as you're out there, we'll never be safe.”

“Erik…” I said in a warning tone.

I was _not_ going to let him hurt her. I didn’t care. I had my muscles tensed. I was watching him carefully. If he made one move, I would do whatever it took to stop him. Hell, I would even go through the unpleasant experience of having a bullet go through my head again to stop him.

“Use your power, Charles. Stop him.” Raven said.

“He can't.” Erik said.

She jumped to her feet and ran to the window. I pushed Erik down. Not that it mattered. The gun was still floating in the air as we both fell. The gun fired and the bullet followed Raven through the window. I heard her exclaim in pain. Erik pushed me off of him and went through the window as well. I stood. Charles was looking around, trying to think of what to do. Logan was against the wall. It looked like he was having some sort of an attack. Hank was the next to go flying through the window. I didn’t know what to do. Logan’s claws were out and it looked like he was struggling to hold on to something. Erik was out there fighting Hank in beast form. Wonderful. Logan’s eyes opened and he looked at us, a confused look in his eyes.

“Where am I?” He asked.

What? What the hell was happening with him? I didn’t have time to worry about this as well. I had to do something. I couldn’t leave Charles here alone.

“How the hell did I get here?”

Well, that was a good sign. I sighed heavily. Brilliant. This was just what we needed on top of everything else that was going on.

“What? You came to us.” Charles said.

“Who are you?”

“Charles.” Logan looked ready to attack him. “Charles Xavier!”

“I don't know you.”

“Huh?” Charles looked at me. “Look, I can deal with this. Just go. Stop Erik! You might be the only one that actually can.”

I nodded and pulled off my jacket. I ran through the window, extending my wings as I fell. There was really no point trying to hide my mutation anymore. Hank and Erik were in the fountain and Raven was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully that meant that she was safe now. For now, I had to stop Hank from killing Erik. I ignored the cameras that were following me. They were just background noise, all of these people. I ran to the fountain and pulled on Hank’s shoulders.

“Hank, you’re killing him!” I said.

“Good! He deserves it.” Hank responded.

“Get off of him!”

I saw Erik’s eyes open under the water. I jumped away from Hank as the metal rods in the fountain formed around his wrists. I helped Erik to his feet. I looked around at the people staring at us in awe. I hadn’t hidden my wings again. Well, there was no point to it now. I held on tightly to Erik and took to the air. We had to get somewhere safe. Somewhere safe. Where the hell would that be? I wracked my brain. There had to be something, right? Erik made a suggestion, but I wasn’t really listening to him at the moment. I set us both down on a roof. I closed my wings and rolled my shoulders. It had been a while since I had had to carry someone while flying. Erik pulled open the door and we ran down the steps. Thankfully, this seemed to be an abandoned building. An old hospital, of all things. I tried to flip the light switch. Power was out. Of course it was. 

Erik tossed me a flashlight.

“You’re bleeding.” I said.

“You’re observant.”

“Now’s not the time to be an ass, trust me.” I responded.

I looked through the cabinets. I found sutures, disinfectant and a few clean bandages. That was wonderful. I sat Erik down in a chair and pour some of the disinfectant over his wound. He winced. I apologised half-heartedly. I was finding it hard to do this. Not because I had never sewn up a wound before. I had done that hundreds of times. It was because he had been completely willing to kill Raven without a second thought about it. I had always known that he was capable of killing. It was something that I had gotten used to at this point. I just supposed that I thought it would stop when it came to the people he cared about. It made me think about what he would consider doing to me if it came down to it. 

He had pulled off his wet jacket and was starting to unbutton his bloody shirt. I started to carefully sew up his wound.

“You’re very good at that.” He said, trying to start some sort of a dialogue.

“Yeah, well, I try to keep my people in good shape, so it’s a skill I’ve had to pick up.” I said.

I finished and wiped the blood off with a bandage. I smoothed his hair back over.

“There. Good as new.” 

“Thank you.”

I cleaned up the mess and looked up at Erik. “You really want to kill her?”

“To protect the rest of us.” He said as I started to walk away. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“Wanting to protect us? Of course not. Trying to kill someone that close to you? Absolutely. It makes me think about… nevermind.”

“About what? About if I could even consider doing the same to you? Of course not!”

“You have a tendency to say what you think I want to hear. I want the truth, Erik. So, the truth now, if you don’t mind. What if it wasn’t me? What if it was Raven that you loved?”

“But it’s not.”

He stood a few inches away from me. He grabbed my arms and looked at me carefully. If I was having these thoughts now… then who knew what the future held for us.

“But what if it was? Would you still have wanted to kill her, if it meant that you could _maybe_ be protecting the rest of us?”

He looked down before meeting my eyes with confidence. “I don’t _want_ to kill her, Sky. I don’t have any other choice. _We_ don’t have any other choice.”

“And you see, that’s the problem with you and I! We don’t see eye to eye on things like that. There’s always another way, Erik. You just always see the killing road. Even if it means that you have to kill someone that you care about.” I shook my head. 

“That’s not you! You’re different, Sky. I wouldn’t hurt you. Ever.”

“You just said-”

“That I would _consider_ it with her, not you. Not even for an instant, because you are the one who showed me a better life. You showed me what it was like to be loved and to love someone else. I couldn’t do anything to you.”

“You say that now, but what about in the future? What if it was Adr- nevermind, Erik.” I sighed.

“Who are you talking about?”

Was it smart to tell him he had a son when we were in a middle of a fight? Probably not, but I never really made smart decisions when I was fighting with Erik. I sighed and took a few steps away from Erik’s grip.

“Adrian. My son. Our son. Your son.”

“What?”

Well, it was certainly a good way to _stop_ a fight, that was for sure. His eyes instantly softened as the realisation dawned on him. He had a son. A real son. I sighed and reached into my pocket, pulling out a wallet. I found the picture of Adrian and held it out to Erik. He took it gingerly, as if it was the most precious thing in the world. Maybe it was.

“That’s… that’s my…”

“Yeah. He turned nine a couple of months ago.”

“He looks like you.”

“Yeah, well.” I shrugged. “Do you understand now why I can’t just… take the risk that you could turn on me if the situation called for it?”

“You think I would do that?”

“I don’t know. I like to think you wouldn’t, but then you turn around and do something like this. Like what you almost did to Raven.”

“They’ll kill us all if we don’t stop them.”

“And the alternative is killing them all?”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice, Erik.”

I put my wallet back in my pocket and started to walk to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to Charles. I’m sorry, Erik, but this time… I’m on his side. I love you, but I won’t let you kill Raven.”

“I love you, too.” He looked up at me. “I won’t hurt you.”

I walked through the door. I didn’t want to say goodbye, but I had to. There was a better way than killing. There was always a better way.


	11. Chapter 11

I found Logan, Hank, and Charles back at the airport. Charles looked at me with something like disdain. I put my hands in my pockets. Hank handed me my coat. I smiled appreciatively as I put it on. I looked at Charles. Maybe it hadn’t been the best decision to help Erik get away, but I hadn’t known what else to do. I thought of the right thing to say to him. It had to be good. It had to be convincing, probably.

“Look, Charles, I know you’re still mad at me for a lot of things, particularly helping Erik, but I… well, I don’t believe in what he’s doing. I want to save her too.” I said. “If you’ll still have me, that is.”

His eyes softened. “I know you love her, too. I believe you. Come on. Let’s go home.”

I looked out the window on the plane and wondered where Erik was. I knew we were going back to New York. We had to find Raven, somehow. It was good that I was leaving Erik. He and I… we were like a time-bomb. One of us was bound to get hurt sooner or later. This way, this was better. It was better that we were apart. It was how we would be able to stay alive. It was how we would keep Adrian alive. I knew that this was the right thing to do. I wasn’t sure that Erik and I would ever see each other again. I wasn’t even sure if it would matter if we did or not. I knew that this was the right decision for all of us. Erik wanted to kill Raven, after all. We had different views on too many things for an actual relationship to ever work between us, anyway. I had to believe that to reassure myself that I had made the right decision, and I had made the right decision. Right?

It was another silent flight. Charles and I played a game of chess. He won. My heart wasn’t really in it. I kept on thinking. Maybe I would ask Logan what happened to me in the future one day before this was over. He had made it sound like Charles, Erik, and I had all been on the outs. Well, we had been for the last ten years. I supposed that it wasn’t impossible that my mind stayed set for 50 years. 50 years. Damn. What would the world be like then if we succeeded? I leaned back in my chair and looked up at the ceiling. I never doubted my choices unless they involved Erik. There was no way that that was healthy, for anyone involved. Once we found Raven, I would go back to Adrian and life would go back to the way it was. Hopefully, anyway. I wanted to believe that it was true that I could go back to the life that I had. It had been a good life. Then, Charles, Hank, and Logan had come along and screwed it all up.

I shook my head to try and clear my mind. I had to think about anything else. I wouldn’t have changed a damn thing that had happened in these last few days. I had needed them. I looked over at Charles, sitting across the way. I was going to save Raven. That was what I had come here to do. Sort of. I thought about Adrian. He was probably awake now. I usually let him have some free time before I sent him off to have some sort of an education. I would have sent him to a real school if I hadn’t been so afraid of what other people would do to him. That was a part of my problem, I think. I was too worried about what would happen to him. I knew that he was more than capable of taking care of himself, even at his age. It was just… mutants weren’t well known, and the few people that did know about them had proven to be less than understanding. I didn’t want to risk Adrian going through what I had. No one deserved that kind of pain, certainly not a child. 

The plane landed and we took a car back to the house. We were all tired. As we walked inside, Charles collapsed, clutching at whoever was closest for support. He groaned like he was in pain. I kneeled next to him. What was going on? Was something wrong with him? He put his hand to his head.

“What happened?” Logan asked. “Come on. Can he walk?”

I helped him to the stairs so he was sitting down. He looked so scared. He was so scared. Charles was in pain.

“He needs his treatment.” Hank said.

“Hank, I can hear them.” Charles cried out.

I took his hand. He held onto it tightly and looked at me sadly. He… he could hear my thoughts. I could feel his presence in the back of my mind. I focused on positive thoughts for him, pushing down the dark ones that were stuck there like fly paper. That was what Charles needed. The happy moments to counteract the bad ones. I thought about the day we first met. He had been so fascinated with my wings. I was shocked to find more people that were accepting of me.

“I know it hurts, I know. It's okay.” I said, smoothing back his hair. “It’s okay.”

“Can you make it stop?” Logan asked.

“I'll get them.”

Hank ran up the stairs. I stayed with Charles. Maybe there was something that I could do to help ease his pain. Probably not. He was holding onto me tightly. He wasn’t trying to pull himself back to his feet. He just needed someone to be there right now. If that was me, then so be it. I wanted to be there for him. He needed me. I made him look at me. His blue eyes met mine. I could see the pain that was there. I could see his suffering that stemmed from us. There was nothing I could do for him.

“Hey, hey. Pull yourself together.” I said quietly.

“It's not over yet.” Logan said.

“You don't believe that.” Charles said.

“How do you know?”

“As these go… this comes back. They all come back.” He turned to the side, tears in his eyes.

“Look.” Logan moved to look Charles in the eye. “I'm still here… and she's still out there. We need your help, Charles. Not like this.” Logan gestured to him. “I need you. We can't find Raven. Not without your powers.”

Charles looked at him, then to me. Logan was right. The only way that we would be able to find Raven in time was if he used his powers. And it was going to hurt. Of course it was. He had spent a long time shutting everyone out in so many ways. Getting back to the use of his powers was going to hurt like a bitch, but he was going to have to suck it up and get back on that horse. It wasn’t life without suffering. Yes, Charles got the short end of the stick because of his powers, but… he didn’t have the luxury of turning it off because of what he wanted to do. People needed him. I needed him. _Raven_ needed him.

Could he see that?

“I added a little extra because you missed a dose.” Hank said.

Charles prepared to stick the needle into his arm. I looked at him desperately. He didn’t have to do this. Charles was so much stronger than the rest of us. Seeing him like this… it hurt me. I wanted him to be able to have it all, but unfortunately, the world didn’t work that way. If it did, then I probably never would have met him. John wouldn’t have died. Erik wouldn’t have lost his parents.

“Charles.” I said.

Charles sighed and dropped the needle. I smiled. He chose to help us.

“Hank, do me a favor. Would you help me to my study, please?”

Hank picked up Charles and carried him to his study. Hank set him down in a chair and opened up a closet containing his wheelchair. Charles looked at it sadly. I nodded encouragingly. Hank and I helped him into the chair. He adjusted slightly.

“Are you sure about this?” Hank asked.

“Absolutely not.”

There was the Charles that I knew and loved. We went down to Cerebro. He looked scared to be here. No, he didn’t look scared. He was scared. I couldn’t exactly blame him. He had just gotten his powers back and we were asking him to take on the whole world. I believed that he could do it. Charles could do anything that he set his mind to, it was what made him so great. He was a good person and a great man, capable of so many things. He just couldn’t be afraid of himself.

“When was the last time you were down here?” I asked, looking at the great door in front of us.

“The last time we went looking for students.” Hank said.

“A lifetime ago.” Charles added.

He stopped in front of the door. A light moved in front of his face.

“Welcome, Professor.” A computerised voice said.

We all walked forward into Cerebro. I had never been in the new and improved version before. It was impressive. Hank had really outdone himself with this. Truly. It was amazing. Charles picked up the helmet. It was so much smaller than the original one. He blew off the dust and carefully put it on. Hank pressed some buttons and the machine turned on. I kept one hand on Charles’s shoulder, a form of silent support.

“Raven's wounded. She won't be moving fast.” Hank said.

“These are muscles I haven't stretched in a long time.” Charles sighed.

The metal panels around us faded away and we saw all of the people in the world. Charles started to scream out in pain.

“Charles!” I moved in front of him.

The dials and glass on Cerebro started to break apart, blowing out glass over us. 

“Charles!”

He threw the helmet off onto the console. Charles was panting heavily, tears in his eyes. He leaned heavily against the board. I took his hand again.

“Charles? It's all right.” I said calmly.

The key now was to calm him down. He had to be calm for this to work.

“I'll go check the generator.” Hank said, walking away.

I looked at Charles. He clearly didn’t care about the machinery, or that Hank was leaving to go and see what the problem was. Logan and I exchanged a glance. There was nothing more that I could do. I couldn’t help him. Not this time.

“It's not the machinery, is it?” I asked. 

Charles turned away from Cerebro and started to move towards the door again.

“I can't do this. My mind…” He shook his head.

“Yes, you can.” Logan said.

“It won't take it.”

“You're just a little rusty.”

“You don't understand. It's not a question of being rusty. I can flip the switches. I can turn the knobs. But my power comes from here. It comes from…” He gestured to his heart and looked up at us sadly. “And it's broken. I feel like one of my students. Helpless. It was a mistake coming down here. It was a mistake freeing Erik. This whole thing has been one bloody mistake. I'm sorry, Logan, but they sent back the wrong man.”

Was he right? Maybe. It would have better, and far more convincing, if they had sent back one of us. But they hadn’t, so we were just going to have to learn to live with it.

“You're right. I am. Actually, it was supposed to be you. But I was the only one who could physically make the trip. And, uh… And I don't know how long I've got here. But I do know that a long time ago… actually, a long time from now… I was your most helpless student. And you unlocked my mind. You showed me what I was. You showed me what I could be. I don't know how to do that for you. You're right. I don't. But I know someone who might.”

Well, what the hell did that mean?

“Look into my mind.”

“You saw what I did to Cerebro. You don't want me inside your head.” Charles responded, looking away from Logan.

“There's no damage you can do… that hasn't already been done. Trust me. Come on.”

I watched as Charles put his hand against Logan’s temple. His face filled with pity for him.

“You poor, poor man.” Charles said.

“Look past me.” 

“No, I don't want your suffering. I don't want your future!” Charles exclaimed.

This was too much for him. Logan was pushing him. I looked away. It was something that we had to do. It was what Charles would have done for us if given the chance. It had to be done for him now.

“Look past my future. Look for your future. That's it. That's it. That's it.”

Charles went into a sort of trance. I started to pace. What was he seeing? What was going on? I looked down at him. He was fine. He was okay. Right? He was going to be okay. Charles came back a moment later, just as Hank was coming back into Cerebro.

“Find what you were looking for?” Logan asked.

“The power's back on.” Hank said as he walked forward.

“Yes. Yes, it is.” Charles smiled.


	12. Chapter 12

**_2023_ **

I looked down at Logan. How much longer did we have in the past? Had he screwed us over even more? There was no way of knowing. I shook my head. I had been so foolish when I was younger, worried about all of the wrong things. I was certain that I would have created problems for us. I looked at Kitty. She was losing blood, and fast. Logan had had some sort of an attack while he was slipping and cut her arm badly. She wasn’t going to last long at this rate. Bobby was by her side, doing his best to stem the flow. It wasn’t working very well. She was straining herself to keep Logan in the past. I shook my head. There had to be something that we could do, right? Bobby waked to the Professor and I. He gestured for us to go to the side. Erik followed. We looked at Bobby.

“She's lost too much blood. She can't keep going like this.” He sighed.

“We have no choice, Bobby.” Erik shook his head.

“We can wake him up.” 

“No!” Charles insisted. I looked at him curiously. “They need more time. I had… a glimpse into the past. If we wake Logan now, we may set our fate on an even darker course. They need more time.”

Charles was rarely wrong in these instances. Bobby looked thoughtful. What was he planning?

“There is someone else.” 

“No, no one has Kitty's power.” I shook my head. Dammit!

“Someone that could take her power, take her place. She took yours once.” Bobby looked at Erik.

It dawned on us all. Of course.

“Rogue?” Erik asked.

“I'm sorry, Bobby, she must be dead. I haven't been able to make a connection with her for years.” Charles said sadly.

She would have been perfect for this. Damn it all to hell. Kitty would die if we continued on this path, and then Logan would either get stuck there or snapped back here. Either way, it could screw us over. Bobby shook his head and had a small but sad smile on his face. He knew something that the rest of us didn’t.

“That's because they're keeping her in the one place your mind can't reach from the outside. She's in Cerebro. She's in your house, Professor. They're experimenting on her. Trying to tap into her power, so they can take ours. Take all of ours.”

It made sense. It would be the logical thing to do. It’s what they had done to Mystique. But one thing didn’t add up for me. Bobby loved Rogue. Well, sort of. It was complicated, as many matters involving mutants were. Anyway, moving past my ramblings...

“If you knew this, why didn't you go after her?” I asked, crossing my arms. 

“We tried. It's too heavily guarded.”

Charles grinned. “I may know a few things about that house they don't.”

Bobby walked over to Kitty and kneeled by her.

“Right then, just like the good old days then.” I said. Erik looked at me in confusion. “What, you didn’t really think I was going to let you go in there alone, did you, old timer?”

“You’re four years younger than me.” He protested.

“Yeah, but I look 40 years younger, so tough. Besides, you and I were always a good team. As long as Charles was in your head, that is.”

I smiled. Better late than never, right? Sort of, in this case. I took Erik’s hand in my own. I had spent enough years pushing him away from me. It was time to stop. Maybe it was too late. Maybe we only had a few moments left on this earth. It didn’t matter to me. I had made too many mistakes in the past. Bobby said goodbye to Kitty and we walked to the X-Jet. We had time before the Sentinels found us. Hopefully. Charles stayed near me at the front of the jet. Erik and Bobby were both wary. They had a reason to be. If Rogue was at the house, then she was no doubt in terrible pain. It had been seized by the government so many years ago… the raid had taken so many lives. If I didn’t have my healing factor, I would have died as well. Indeed, I was lucky to be alive.

I stopped the jet above the house and set it on a sort of autopilot. Charles was going to keep in contact with Erik through this whole ordeal to get us through the house. We couldn’t go through the front entrance, obviously. Erik led us to a back entrance that he opened with his powers. We walked through a brick hallway. The school looked… desolate without the lights on. Broken, somehow. Just like we were. I tried to remember what it used to look like, but I was having a hard time picturing it. It had been that long. I wiped away a silent tear for our lost brothers and sisters. I felt Charles in the back of my mind, lending some comfort. I thanked him and continued forward with more confidence than I had had before.

We were following the old gas and water pipes. Erik looked at the wall curiously and held up his hand.

“In other words, a door.” He tore a chunk off of the wall and let it fall gently to the floor.

Erik was still in the lead. Bobby and I walked side by side. I notched an arrow. It wouldn’t be much use against a Sentinel, but it would hurt like hell for anything else. After a moment more of walking, Erik looked at the ground. He tore off a chunk large enough for the three of us to stand on as a sort of elevator. I stayed close to him. He lowered us down and there it was. The door to Cerebro. There were no guards. I guess they had never expected for someone to get this far down before. They should have been better prepared. Erik forced the doors open. The two scientists looked at us in shock. I felt a rage wash over me when I saw Rogue strapped to that table. I had been in her position before, staring up at the lights, wondering when the torture would end. Wondering if someone would come and save me from my hell.

“I've been on that slab.” Erik said coldly, moving the instruments to levitate at eye level, pointed towards the men. “Let me show you how it feels.”

Bobby and I walked to Rogue. She was knocked out. I hoped she wasn’t dead. Then we would have come a long way for nothing. The scientists ran away. I wasn’t so sure that that was a good idea, but it didn’t matter now.

“Rogue, Rogue, come on. Wake up. Rogue.” Bobby said.

“I have an idea.” I said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t take long for it to work.”

I placed my hand on her cheek. Instantly, I felt the effects of her powers overtaking me. I hit the table with my other hand. Bobby continued to urge for her to wake up. Erik walked to my side and took my hand away from her cheek. My powers slowly began to restore. I took deep breaths until I felt my strength return.

“Come on, Rogue, wake up. Wake up, it's me.”

Her eyes opened suddenly and she looked up at us in disbelief.

“No.” She said when her eyes met Erik’s.

“Rogue, Rogue, Rogue, it's okay. He's with me.” Bobby assured her. I nodded as well, as if that would help at all. “We're gonna get you out of here.”

Erik used his powers once more, breaking her restraints. Bobby helped Rogue to her feet. It was good to see her again. It had been a while.

“Erik, Bobby, Sky. Get out of there! Now!” Charles said in all of our heads. 

He was right. I could hear the Sentinels getting closer. We moved as quickly as we could to where we had first come through. As we got to the floor above us, the Sentinels started to burst through the grates, using their spikes to try and stab us. We had all been attacked with this move before and easily avoided it. Bobby kept a tight grip on her. We reached the doorway that Erik had made. Rogue tripped. I turned and helped her back to her feet. Bobby used his powers to create an ice wall to stop the Sentinel in front of us.

“Take her!” Bobby yelled. 

Erik and I pulled Rogue away from Bobby. We had to get her out of here at all costs. Bobby struggled to keep the upper hand, but it was a lost cause from the start. No one could survive the Sentinels. Three of them were here, using fire beams to melt him from his ice form. He yelled in agony as he died. I pushed Rogue through the door and Erik blocked it again. We ran. We ran as fast as we could back to the jet. I ran to the cockpit. There was no time.

“Get us out of here.” Erik said.

“Trying to, dearest. It’s not like I can make this go any faster at the moment.”

“Bobby-” Rogue began.

“I know.” Charles said sadly.

“I'm sorry, Charles.” Erik said.

I moved the X-Jet expertly through the air, back into the mountains. The others had their time to grieve. I was too busy trying to keep us alive and avoid areas that were infested with Sentinels. Finally, we made it back and I landed the plane once more. Storm looked at us expectantly. I could see her eyes searching for Bobby. I shook my head and looked at the ground. That was enough for the others to back off. We all looked confident. It was all up to Logan. Rogue was our last hope to keep in in 1973. Charles explained the plan. It seemed like Rogue understood. I hoped she did, at least.

We entered the chamber. Kitty looked up at us. We had Rogue, but...

“Where's Bobby?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

“I'm sorry, Kitty.” I said, again looking at the ground.

She started to cry softly. I had known that they were close, but… I walked to one side of the room and inspected the stained glass very carefully. Rogue walked over to Kitty and touched her hand. Kitty exclaimed in shock. Erik stood behind her, his hand resting on her arm. She passed out into his arms and Rogue sat down, resuming the task.

“Hello, Logan.” Rogue said, looking down at his sleeping form.

He didn’t wake up. That was a good sign, I supposed. We just had to hope and pray that this worked and that Bobby hadn’t died for nothing. That they all hadn’t died in vain. I looked at Erik and smiled encouragingly. We were going to make it through this. One way or another. I took his hand. He looked at me curiously and I shrugged.

“It’s the end of the world. Cut me some slack.” I said quietly.

“You always try to find humor at the worst of times.”

“It’s my coping mechanism. How’s it working for me?”

“Not very well.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Rogue’s eyes were half closed in concentration. This was going to work. This _had_ to work. It was our only option left.

“They’ve found us!”


	13. Chapter 13

**_A/N just for my own plot devices, I’m going to make it so that everyone can hear both sides of the conversation. They can’t see her, but they can hear her over the coms. It just makes it easier and I have no idea if that’s how Cerebro actually works. PLOT POINTS_ **

**_1973_ **

Charles put the helmet back on. He was filled with confidence now. What exactly had he seen when he looked inside of Logan’s mind? I had a feeling that it was going to be something that he kept to himself. I could live with that, as long as it made him Charles again. The real Charles. The confident Charles who could help anyone through anything. Cerebro powered up again. It was an entirely different experience this time. He leaned forward. He had found her.

“Raven, stop. Stop running.” Charles said.

“Charles? Where are you?”

Raven’s voice rang out above us, sort of in an ethereal kind of way. I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her. How strange. It made the conversation less confusing. I moved back on my feet. It was good to hear her voice when she wasn’t running away from Erik. Just… normal. I didn’t think that she ever realised how much I really cared about her. I had plenty of sisters in Massachusetts, but there was something different about her. Something worth protecting at all costs. Charles was determined. More determined than any of us.

“Back at the house where you should be. I need you to come home.”

“I know what I need to do.”

“If you kill Trask you will be creating countless more just like him.”

“Then I'll kill them, too.”

“Those are Erik's words, not yours.”

I winced. I knew he was right. That was exactly the kind of thing that Erik would say. One person was never enough for him… that was what he thought of what I did. He believed that if I killed those men, then the facilities would close on their own. I couldn’t believe that. It wouldn’t matter, anyway. There would always be men like Trask. Trask. It was him. He was the one who had funded the lab that tortured me for so many years. It would be easy to kill him. Raven and I both saw that. I just saw beyond that. I could see the pain that it would ultimately cause. The people that would suffer because of it. She just had to realise it for herself. We couldn’t force her to do it.

“The girl I grew up with wasn't capable of killing. She was good, fair, full of compassion.”

“I have compassion. Just not for Trask. He's murdered too many of us.”

Logan was getting frustrated and antsy. He wasn’t really patient, was he?

“Shut her down, Charles. Get in her head.” He said.

“She's not letting me in. I'm barely holding on. I'm not strong enough yet.” Charles shook his head.

If anyone could convince her of this, it was him. Not because he was telepathic, but because despite it all, she still trusted and loved him. Charles and Raven had a real connection between them. They had known each other for so long that it was almost tangible. That was what Charles was fighting to save. That’s why he would be able to stop her from doing this.

“I know what Trask has done but killing him will not bring them back. It will set you on a path from which there is no return. An endless cycle of killing.” He leaned back in his chair, his eyes glossy from unshed tears. “Us and them, until there is nothing left. But we can stop it, right now, you and I. You just have to come home.”

‘Have to’ was a poor choice of words. 

“I have to? You haven't changed at all, Charles. Like I said, I know exactly what I have to do.”

“You do? Then, wherever you go, I will find you. And, Raven, if you make me, I _will_ stop you.”

“Good luck, Charles.”

Cerebro shut down and Charles sighed heavily. He put the helmet aside. He shook his head. He hadn’t found out where she was. Dammit.

“Where is she?” Logan asked.

“She's in an airport, boarding a plane. She could be going anywhere.”

“It’s all right. Get some rest, Charles. We'll track her in the morning and find out exactly where she's going.” I said, putting my hands in my pockets.

Charles nodded. I walked upstairs to my old room. Charles hadn’t changed a thing. It was all there. It was all the same as when we had left that day for Cuba. The same as the day I left the school. I ran a hand across one of the bookshelves. He had some good books here still. I looked at the bed.

_There was a soft knock at my door. I opened the door. It was Erik._

_“Hey.” I said. “Come in.” I backed away to let him in._

_“I just wanted to… I saw your face when I said that I was going to kill Shaw. I thought that was what you wanted.” He said._

_“It was. Once. But times change. Things change. I changed. I suppose that I thought… nevermind. If that’s something you’ve got your mind set on, then there’s nothing I can say to stop you, you stubborn man.” I chuckled._

_I was trying to make light of a bad situation that I didn’t agree with. There would be no stopping Erik. He had ways of stoppin all of us. Well, maybe not Charles, but the rest of us, he would have no problem. I had kept him from killing the innocent. I had done my best. I had tried to, anyway, and I liked to think that I had succeeded, at least for the most part._

_I turned and walked away from Erik. He lightly touched my back._

_“Your scars… I’d never seen them before.” He lifted my shirt slightly, running a hand across them. “They’re by your wings.”_

_“It was a favourite pass time of the scientists.” I took his hand and put it just over where my wings would meet. “If you were to press down there, you would force my wings from their resting place. Naturally, this can be quite… forceful. They did it so often that it left scars.”_

_“And you’d still defend them?” He said softly._

_“I’d defend Monica and the people that are like her. Never those men or those like them.” I turned to face Erik. “Never the men like Shaw.”_

_“Never.”_

I shook my head. Why was I thinking about that? I had made up my mind about Erik. He was dangerous. He always had been, I just… I had never wanted to see it. I always thought that I could change him. That had been foolish of me. He had good in him, yes, but maybe there wasn’t enough for me to help him. A soft knock at my door pulled me from my thoughts. I pulled open the door. It was Charles.

“What brings you to my door at this hour?” I asked, moving aside so he could come in.

“I heard your thoughts. Sorry, I know I said I wouldn’t get inside of your head, but I’m still trying to control it.” Charles said. “It isn’t foolish of you to want to change him. You love him.”

“And maybe love isn’t enough to keep him from being that person again.”

“You think he’d hurt you? Or Adrian?”

“No, never. Well, I hope not. I just… I worry that one day, if we stay together, he’ll do something unforgivable. Something that I couldn’t forgive.”

“You and I both see the good in him. Perhaps that’s a mistake on both of our parts, but maybe it isn’t. I have to believe that he can be a good person. Otherwise, what’s the point of this? If anyone in this world can make him see that, it’s you.”

“I don’t-”

“I know you don’t believe that, but it’s true. That day he turned the satellite, I saw two memories in his head. The one with his family, and the day that he first met you. You’ve had more of an effect on that man than anyone else. Losing you, well, that’s what would push him over the edge, especially if he thought that it was his fault.”

“Thank you, Charles.” I took his hand. “You’re a good friend.”

“Please. I’m your only friend.”

He smiled and I laughed. That was probably true.

* * *

“Raven was here. I screwed up.” Hank said when we all had convened in the morning.

Well, fuck it all, then. She had been here? I had been too wrapped up in my own things to worry about it and Charles had probably been asleep. Who the hell knew what was going on with Logan at that point. Did he even really _need_ to sleep? Apparently, he couldn’t die, so was it really so much of a stretch to say that he needed sleep? Yeah, it was. I couldn’t really die either, and I needed sleep. Anyway, moving past my ramblings onto the matter at hand.

“Shit. We can't track her now. She's cut her ties.” Logan cursed.

“Hey, I saw in the news last night there's going to be an announcement in Washington this afternoon about a new protocol for mutants.”

“And you didn’t think to mention this sooner?” I said.

* * *

“I set the system I designed to record any news about Paris over all three networks and PBS.”

“All three? Wow.”

Why did Logan think that wasn’t impressive? It really was. I mean, it was hard to get all three channels. Maybe it was because there wasn’t time for things like this in the future. Wouldn’t that be something?

“Yeah, and PBS.” Hank said proudly. “Look what I found.”

He played one of the tapes. I watched carefully.

“Tomorrow, in front of the White House, the President will make his announcement. He will be joined by Secretary of Defense Laird and has even sought the help of renowned scientist Bolivar Trask, his special advisor to combat this mutant issue. The White House has asked…”

“Raven doesn't realize that if she kills Trask at an event like that with the whole world watching…” Charles began.

“Then I came a long way for nothing.”

“And there's more bad news. I saw in a report they found traces of her blood in Paris. For all we know, they already have her DNA which is all they'd need-”

“To create the Sentinels of the future.”

Logan really like finishing people’s thoughts for them. I decided it would be best not to make a snarky comment about him knowing what they were going to say because he was from the future. It was really the tone of the room that got me to keep my mouth shut. Bad humor was how I dealt with nerves. It was a real problem.

“There's a theory in quantum physics that time is immutable. It's like a river. You can throw a pebble into it and create a ripple, but the current always corrects itself. No matter what you do, the river just keeps flowing in the same direction.” Hank sighed.

“What are you trying to say?” I asked.

“What I'm saying is, what if the war is inevitable? What if she's meant to kill Trask? What if this is just simply who she is?”

What if Erik was just the way he was and there was no way to bring him back?

“Just because someone stumbles, loses their way… doesn't mean they're lost forever.” Charles said quietly. He looked up at us with a renewed fervor. “No, I don't believe that theory, Hank. And I cannot believe that is who she is. Ready the plane. We're going to Washington.”

Hank nodded and walked out to do as Charles had asked. I started to walk out as well. Logan stopped Charles.

“You all right?” He asked.

“Getting there.” Charles responded.

“Whatever happens today, I need you to promise me something. You've looked into my mind and seen a lot of bad, but you've seen the good, too. The X-Men. Promise me you'll find us. Use your power, bring us together. Guide us. Lead us. Storm. Scott. Jean. Remember those names. There are so many of us. We will need you, Professor.”

“I'll do my best.” Charles promised.

“Your best is enough. Trust me.”

“Thank you.”


	14. Chapter 14

I hadn’t been to Washington, D.C. in ten years. Not since just before John’s death. I wasn’t going to fail this time. I knew that better than anything in the world. No one else was going to die because of what I did, because I couldn’t save them. Not again. I looked at Charles. He was more confident than I had seen him in a long time. We were going to stop this all from happening. Hank was pushing Charles’s chair across the White House lawn. I was sure that it was uncomfortable for both of them. Well, maybe not Hank. He was super strong, after all. Anyway. We were stopped at the front.

“Can I see your invitations, please?” The man asked.

“Yes, you may.” Charles put his fingers to his temple. “These three are with me.”

“Go ahead.”

“Thank you.”

Ah, the many uses of Charles’s mutations. Getting us into places we didn’t belong. It was something that I had missed. It certainly would have made getting Erik out of the prison a thousand times easier, but I wasn’t going to hold anything against Charles. He had had a time where he stumbled. He fell but he got back up again. That was what really mattered now. I smiled at him as we moved to the seats in the lawn. All of the officials were sitting on top of a small stage. Trask and his lackey were there. I felt a great swell of rage when I saw him sitting there like he was on top of the world. I forced myself to remember why we were here. Trask didn’t really deserve to live, but he didn’t deserve to die, either. He just had to be stopped, or shown a better way. Something that would allow for humans and mutants to coexist. That was the goal here wasn’t it? That was the reason that Logan had been sent back in time.

Charles focused on what he was doing, searching through all of their minds for Raven. She didn’t know that we were here. At least, I hoped that she didn’t. If she did, she could be trying to shield her thoughts from Charles, making this that much harder. She didn’t know about Hank’s system, so she would assume that we had no idea what was going on. Maybe we wouldn’t even need Charles to stop her. Well, that was a pipe dream if I had ever had one.

“I haven't found her yet, but she has to be here.” Charles said.

“The President of the United States.” Someone announced.

I looked up at the stage. Nixon walked up and waved to the people to get them to settle down. How that man had gotten elected, I would never know. I had followed his election for a short time. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. Unfortunately, I wasn’t technically an American citizen, as the only documents with my real name on it stated that I was dead. I had fake IDs and things like that, but I couldn’t vote. He wasn’t my first, or second, choice for president. The Sentinels behind him were only affirming that decision for me.

“My fellow Americans, today we face the gravest threat in our history- mutants. We have prepared for this threat. In the immortal words of Robert Oppenheimer, ‘Behold. The world will never be the same again.’” Nixon said.

“Raven? I have her!” Charles said. “There. You see? Secret Serviceman. Left of the stage.”

She, erm, _he_ was frozen in place by Charles. His powers would never cease to amaze me.

“Got him.”

Logan and Hank started to walk over that way. I stayed with Charles. There was no reason for three people to go over to her. Logan and Hank were more than capable of taking care of her. I rested my hands on the back of his chair.

“Raven, please, listen to me. We've been given a second chance to define who we are. Don't do this.” Charles said.

I couldn’t hear what she said in response, but I was certain that it was something less than pleasant. I watched Logan and Hank walk closer to the stage while Charles continued to try and talk Raven down. I was getting one of my familiar bad feelings. Something was coming. Did this mean that we were going to fail? I looked down at Charles. He still wasn't strong enough, was he? Damn it all to hell. No. No, I had to believe that we could get through this in one piece. That the future would be changed. If I didn't believe that, then what was the point of all of this? I kept my hand on Charles's shoulder, a form of support for my dear friend. I turned my eyes towards Raven, or rather, the face she was using now. She was so far away, yet closer than she had been in years. 

Logan and Hank were stopped before they could reach her. I cursed under my breath. Charles wasn't strong enough to help them and hold onto Raven yet. I started to walk forward but stopped when the Sentinels turned on. What was happening? Trask didn't look happy with his friend and the whole lawn looked confused. The Sentinels started to fly towards the people. They held up their weapons. No. But they-

The Sentinels fired into the crowd. The people started to run. In the chaos, Charles let go of Raven’s mind. He called out to her. Logan and Hank were behind a car. I couldn’t see her anymore. She must have run with the other officials into the White House. Fuck. There was nothing that I could do.

I felt a small piece of rubble hit my forehead. What the hell? I wasn't standing under anything. A shadow passed overhead. I looked up and saw something that explained it all.

Holy shit.

Erik had brought an entire stadium with him.

What the fuck had possessed him to do that? I took another step, looking up at him. He was in the centre. Fuck. _Fuck._ A beam fell. I looked back at Charles. He was okay. Sort of. I ran over to him. He was trapped. 

“Go, Sky. Stop him. You're the only one that can.”

“Charles, I-”

“I’ll be fine. Just go. Please.”

I nodded and ran towards him. The stadium fell around us, effectively closing off the White House lawn from the rest of the world. That had evidently been his goal. What the hell was he thinking? We were trying to get the world to _like_ mutants and this little outburst of his wasn’t helping. He came down to the ground. He was taking this too far. He had made his point with the Sentinels. There was no need for this. The Sentinels gathered around the top of the stadium, their weapons pointed to the people down below. There was one Sentinel still behind him. I found Hank and Logan in the rubble.

“Probably not supposed to ask this sort of thing, but in the future, do I make it?” Hank asked.

“No.” Logan said bluntly. “But we can change that.”

Hank nodded and let his powers unleash, turning once more into Beast. I smiled. That was the Hank that I knew. Erik looked over at us nonchalantly.

“Do what you were made for.” He said.

The Sentinel turned to us. Hank charged forward and jumped on the Sentinel’s back.

“I got this! Go!” He yelled. 

Logan and I exchanged a glance and I nodded. He charged Erik straight on. I unfurled my wings and took to the sky, keeping above him. Erik carelessly threw metal objects at Logan. Logan dodged them all easily, even taking a few hits. I saw the concrete block flying in from behind him.

“Logan, look out!” I yelled.

He didn’t hear me in time. The block hit him in the back, knocking him to the ground. Erik took out the metal and wrapped throughout Logan’s body. He yelled in pain. 

“So much for being a survivor.” Erik said, sending Logan flying. He looked over to me. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“But you will if you have to? Is that what this has come to, Erik? Is that what _we_ have come to? There was a time when you and I could agree on something like this. I don’t want to hurt you either.”

“Don’t make me do this, Sky.”

“No one makes us do anything.” I said.

He looked up at me. I felt metal wrap around my leg and pull me to the ground. I cursed myself. I had gotten distracted. He was pulled down and kept me grounded. I pulled at the restraints. Dammit. Erik held up his hands and strained to pull at something in the White House. A large metal cage burst through the front. I shielded myself from the rubble. He ripped the front of the vault off, casting it to the side. I looked at the men inside. They all reached for the guns. Erik beat them to it. I pulled at the metal rings again. Dammit. I was useless! Fuck!

Erik turned all of the guns to face him. He looked at all of us, at all of them, then locked eyes with one of the cameras.

“You built these weapons to destroy us.” He began. Wonderful start. He could have just let it go but he didn’t. Fuck. “Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts. Because we are different.” Erik scoffed. “Humanity has always feared that which is different.” 

Well, he wasn’t wrong, but the way he was delivering the message was wrong.

“Well, I am here to tell you, to tell the world… you are right to fear us.”

There was the dark Erik turn that he always took. Without fail. We supposed to be convincing them that we _didn’t_ need the Sentinel program and he was single handedly going to undo everything that the rest of us had been trying to avoid. If I could just get him to listen to me, just for a second, then maybe I could get him away from here.

“We are the future. We are the ones who will inherit this earth. And anyone who stands in our way will suffer the same fate as these men you see before you.” 

And what fate was that? Considering that the guns were pointed at anyone who was human, it was probably death, as that was what he always preached about. I pulled at the metal. It was starting to cut at my legs, leaving a ring of torn skin that was healing over already. There was no getting out of it this time. Erik looked at the people. The president. His staff. Trask. Well, at least he was alive, which was the whole point of this damn excursion. It wouldn’t matter after this. It wouldn’t matter after what Erik was doing.

“Today was meant to be a display of your power. Instead I give you a glimpse of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours. Let this be a warning to the world.”

If his actions didn’t seal our fate, then his speech most certainly would.

“And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there, I say this. No more hiding. No more suffering. You have lived in the shadows in shame and fear for too long. Come out. Join me. Fight together in a brotherhood of our kind. A new tomorrow, that starts today.”

I couldn’t believe that this was happening. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I had pictured Erik doing something to stop us from stopping Raven, but the stadium, well, that had been unexpected. Erik never did anything half-assed, I had to give him that. I looked at Hank. He was still struggling to avoid death by Sentinel. I was helpless to do anything. I could say something, but I doubted that Erik would listen to me at this point. He was deep into evil mastermind mode. Hardly anyone could. Charles would be able to if Erik wasn’t wearing that ridiculous helmet.

“Mr. President, sir.” One of the secret servicemen said.

I looked over to them. What the hell was Nixon doing? He was walking towards Erik. That was out of character.

“Stand down. I said, stand down!” Nixon stopped a few feet in front of Erik, straightening his suit jacket. “You want to make a statement? Kill me. Fine. But spare everyone else.”

That wasn’t Nixon. There was no way. Never in his life had Nixon been that understanding of the people. Something was off with this.

“Very heroic, Mr. President, but you had no intention of sparing any of us.” Erik responded. “The future of _our_ species begins now.”

The Sentinel turned away from the car. It looked at Erik and I and started running. It was more of an inconvenience than anything else for Erik. He easily tore it apart. As he turned away, I saw Nixon pull a gun. A plastic gun. _Raven._ No. No! She shot at Erik. My eyes widened. Did she try to- no. The bullet hit the side of his neck. He fell to his knees, clutching the bullet hole. Raven turned back into her blue form.

“You used to be a better shot.” He said.

“Trust me, I still am.” She kicked Erik’s head, knocking him out.

Well, great. How the hell was I going to get out of this, then? If I cut off my leg, would I be able to put it back again? Was I willing to risk it and find out? Maybe. I didn’t have time to figure it out, as Raven soon turned around and pointed the gun at Trask. Oh for fuck’s sake! Did none of these people understand what was at stake? I was pretty sure that we had explained it rather well.

“Get out of my head, Charles!” She yelled.

That was a good sign. I couldn’t hear what Charles said to her, but from what happened next, it seemed like it was effective. She lowered the gun and looked at me. I nodded to her. This was the right choice. She dropped the gun and walked towards Erik, pulling off his helmet and throwing it to the side.

“He's all yours, Charles.”

Erik’s eyes shot open. He stood and waved his hand, the metal support on Charles moved to the side, and the rings on my legs went away. I stood, but still had to lean heavily on something. I may have broken my ankle. I kept my wings unfurled as a sort of support. Erik looked over at Charles.

“If you let them have me, I'm as good as dead. You know that.” Erik said.

“I know.” Charles responded.

“Goodbye, old friend.”

“Goodbye, Erik.” Charles looked at me. He was leaning heavily on Hank. “You should go with him. Keep him out of trouble.”

“Are you sure? I could go back with you and-”

“Be miserable? No, no. Your heart belongs with him, as do you. Go. Keep him safe, would you?”

“I promise.”

“Until we meet again, Sky Weller.”

“Until then, Charles Xavier.”


	15. Chapter 15

**_2023_ **

“They’ve found us.” Charles said.

Erik and I exchanged a glance before getting up to walk outside. I looked back at Kitty. She was still sound asleep. We had wrapped her wounds and she was doing much better than she had been. I looked out. It was dark. I couldn’t see anything yet. 

“Here they come.” Storm said.

I looked out. They had sent the whole cavalry. No. _No._ Shit. Fuck! I just had to hope that Logan had done what he was supposed to do. Erik looked at me.

“Go back inside, Sky.” He said.

“No way, I’m not leaving you alone.” I said. “Not again.”

“Protect Charles and the others. Please. We can handle this.”

“All right, just… come back in one piece, okay?”

“I’ll try my best.”

I turned and ran back inside, closing the door behind me. I walked back into the chamber. Charles looked at me. I smiled encouragingly. 

“I have faith in them. They can do this.”

I sat down and tried to ignore the nagging feeling in my stomach. I could feel the fear of everyone around me. I pushed against my temples to try and tune it out. Charles took my hand, the way I had done for him so many times. I closed my eyes. I could hear the fighting outside. I wanted to help them, but it was too late to go back now. If I opened that door, they would get in for sure, and then we would all be dead. Now, there was no way to know if Logan had succeeded or not. I rocked back and forth. So much death. So much pain and suffering, and Erik had seen it all coming from miles away. From the very beginning, he had known what they would do to us. Would Logan change his mind about it all? I would never know. Not this version of me. Either way, I was dead. We all were. All of us except for Logan.

Speak of the devil. He started to yell in pain again, his claws extended. The only thing that stopped him from attacking Rogue like he had Kitty was the restraints Erik had laid down. Charles looked over to him.

“Oh, dear God, no.” Charles said.

“What is it? What’s happening?” I asked.

“He’s... Erik is…”

I understood what he meant. Soon, Logan started to struggle to breath. Rogue tried to keep a hold on him. It was just the three of us, and Charles couldn’t really do anything to stop the Sentinels. Rogue had to hold onto Logan’s mind for as long as she could. I looked at the door. That wasn’t going to hold against them. Was I powerful enough to hold them off while Charles got away? Would it even matter? There was an explosion. My heart caught in my chest. Was Erik still alive? Were any of them? I looked at Charles and got my answer. I let out a sigh of relief. Thank god. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to them while I was stuck in here doing nothing.

Then it happened.

It all went wrong. I saw the expression on Charles’s face and I could feel it in my heart. Someone had died. A tear fell down Charles’s face. So few of us were left already. I had to hope that Logan would win. Or wake up and get us out of this. I stood up. Something hit the door. I unfolded my wings to shield Charles and Rogue from whatever was coming. More things hit the door. It wasn’t the Sentinels. They’d be inside by now. It was like something was welding onto the door. What was Erik planning? One of Blink’s portals opened up and Erik backed up. A Sentinel charged to attack, but the portal closed before it could strike the killing blow. Erik backed a few more steps and fell against the wall. I saw the blood glistening on his glove.

No.

Please no.

I kneeled next to him. I pressed my hand against the wound. No no no no no. Not Erik. Please. Not like this. He looked up at me.

“All those years wasted… fighting each other. I’m sorry.” Erik coughed.

“Don’t… don’t say things like that. Because Logan’s gonna fix it all, and you and I, we’re gonna be good, like we used to be. Besides, you’ve got me now, so if you die, I’m going to be pissed, you hear me?” I joked.

“Well, I can’t piss off the queen of us all, now, can I?” He coughed again. “To have a precious  
few of those years back, with both of you…”

The metal on the door started to melt. Three Sentinels stuck their heads into the room. Their faces opened and-

* * *

I walked through the school. I was a teacher here. I had been for a couple of years now. It was really just to help Charles out. He was nearing 90. I was surprised that he had lasted this long, honestly. I taught his English class sometimes, but I mostly taught art history, something that I knew a surprising amount about. I almost ran into Logan. I looked up at him. He seemed surprised to see me. That was not his usual reaction. Something was going on, wasn’t it? I could feel his… apprehension, I supposed was the word.

“You feeling all right this morning? You seem a little… off.” I said.

“Yeah, I guess I just… woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” He responded.

“Riiiight, so then, wait. Are you… did you… I think you should go see the Professor.” 

“I think you’re right.”

It worked. It had really worked. He had managed to save us all. Thank God. He walked off towards the office. I leaned against the stairs. I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened in that other time? It didn’t matter now. We were all safe. Who would have guessed? I guess that I hadn’t expected for Logan to actually come back. 50 years. What was really different, other than the obvious? Maybe one day I would build up the courage to ask him what had happened. It wasn’t going to be today, that was for damn sure. I shook my head. I had a class to get to. I looked out the window. Erik was going to be stopping by today. I hadn’t seen him in a while. We’d kept in contact with each other. 

I sighed. It had been one hell of a ride, that was for sure. I wouldn’t change a thing about it.


	16. Chapter 16

Erik’s eyes shot open. He stood and waved his hand, the metal support on Charles moved to the side, and the rings on my legs went away. I stood, but still had to lean heavily on something. I may have broken my ankle. I kept my wings unfurled as a sort of support. Erik looked over at Charles.

“If you let them have me, I'm as good as dead. You know that.” Erik said.

“I know.” Charles responded.

“Goodbye, old friend.”

“Goodbye, Erik.” Charles looked at me. He was leaning heavily on Hank. “You should go with him. Keep him out of trouble.”

“Are you sure? I could go back with you and-”

“Be miserable? No, no. Your heart belongs with him, as do you. Go. Keep him safe, would you?”

“I promise.”

“Until we meet again, Sky Weller.”

“Until then, Charles Xavier.”

I flew up to Erik. He looked over to me. He didn’t seem too happy to see me flying up there with him.

“If you follow me now, you’ll be a fugitive.” He warned. “You and Adrian both.”

“Yeah, well, someone’s gotta keep you outta trouble.” I responded. “Come on. There’s someone that you need to meet.”

* * *

I walked into headquarters. The people looked at me in shock and at Erik with mixed emotions. I ignored them. We were here for a reason. I told Erik a little about Adrian beforehand. Just his mutation and a few things that he liked to do. I didn’t let go of his hand the whole time as we were walking down the hall. This was the first time that I had ever seen him nervous. Well and truly nervous. I headed towards his room. Thankfully, George was nowhere to be found. I had a feeling that he would protest to me taking _my_ son to meet his father. I shook my head. I pushed open the door. Adrian was sitting on the edge of his bed. He turned around when he heard the door open. He ran up to me.

“Mom! You were gone for so long! I thought it was just going to be a couple of days!” He exclaimed, pulling me into an embrace.

I hugged him back and kissed the top of his head. It felt like it had been years since I had last seen him. It had been just over a week.

“It was going to be, but I got, erm, sidetracked. But there’s someone I want you to meet.” I gestured for Erik to come closer. “This is Erik Lehnsherr. He’s your father. Erik, this is Adrian.”

Erik kneeled down so they were at the same height. He was fighting back tears at the sight of his child. He held out his hand. Adrian took it and looked up at Erik. He knew who his father was. I had never lied to Adrian about that. He knew what Erik was capable of. It didn’t seem like it fazed him. Not for a second. Due to the nature of Adrian’s mutation, his nightmares were very vivid. Vivid enough for others around them to sense them as well. To see them, if it was bad enough. The monsters he had pictured in his head were much worse than Erik could ever be. Plus, Adrian liked to see the best in people, just like me.

“Hi there, Adrian. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hi.”

“I… wow. You look like your mother, you know that?”

“She says that I have your eyes. Are you going to stay with us? Or are the bad men going to take you again?”

“I, well, I can promise you one thing- I’m going to fight to hold onto you for as long as I live. I won’t ever let go.”

Adrian smiled and hugged Erik. He looked taken aback, but pulled his son into an embrace. Unfortunately, we didn’t have long here. I explained to Adrian what had happened as best as I could, and he seemed to understand. We had to leave. Now. He packed clothes and a couple books that he couldn’t live without. I did the same, including Monica’s story. I gave Erik a change of clothes. We were going to leave his armour here. We had decided on the way. No more powers. For the sake of Adrian. To keep him safe, we were both going to avoid using our powers for as long as we could.

I looked over at the two of them. My family. I was a little surprised to see all of us together. I hadn’t really ever expected for it to happen. Not really, anyway. I knew that Adrian and Erik would meet someday, but the more time that Erik had spent imprisoned, the less clear the picture got. I was glad that it was happening now. It felt right. It was right. We were a family. That was something that I had had taken away from me once. I was going to hold on tighter to it this time. I was going to do whatever it took to keep them safe from the forces that wanted to tear us apart. I put my hands in my pockets. 

“So, Poland. Seems like as good a place as any, doesn’t it? Plenty of small towns.” I said.

“Yeah. Yeah, Poland.” Erik said a little sadly.

“It’s going to be okay. We have each other and we’re going to be okay. That’s the way it’s always been.” I put the wings into Erik’s hand. “You’ve got me. We’ll keep him safe and we’ll keep you safe.”

Erik looked at the wings and spun them in his hand before letting them fall into his palm.

“I know.” 

Erik kissed me softly. I smiled and smoothed back his hair. I took Adrian’s hand and we started to walk away. Before we could leave, I had to talk to them. I had to make sure that they were left in good hands. I started to walk towards the front. George. George was the right choice for this. He had the skill set and he knew these people as well as I did. There was no one better to be put in charge. I sent Erik and Adrian to the front entrance while I left to find George. He was in the firing range. Of course he was. Where else would he be? He turned to look at me.

“You’re back.” He said. “And with Erik. Even after what he did?”

“It’s not our place to judge the actions of others. No one died.”

“But he might do it again.”

“But he might not.” I said. “I’m not here to argue with you, George. I’m here to hand over my leadership to you.”

“Wait, what? What are you talking about?” He stepped away from the gun.

“I’m leaving. I can’t tell you where I’m going, but I’m leaving.”

George looked angry. He probably was. He always was whenever Erik was involved with anything. The two of them would never get along. I knew that. I just wished that he would be a little better about keeping it to himself.

“And you’re taking Adrian?”

“Of course I’m taking Adrian.”

That wasn’t even a fucking question, honestly.

“It was him. It was Magneto. He convinced you to leave all of us and take away Adrian. He’s manipulating you.”

The same thing, every time. I knew that George was protective of me. I knew that he didn’t like Erik, but he always took it too far and he never listened to me when I told him it was enough. I shook my head.

“Actually, George, I was the one who wanted to leave. I was the one who chose to take Adrian. I’m sick and tired of having the same fight with you, over and over again. Adrian is _not_ your son. He’s Erik’s, and now, Erik is back. We’re leaving. You’re the new leader of the group. Congratulations. I’m sorry that we couldn’t leave on better terms. Goodbye, George. Maybe one day, we’ll meet again.” 

I walked away and went to Erik and Adrian. Erik nodded. It was time. I looked up at the darkened sky above us. Everything was going to be okay. I turned to Erik. He was holding onto Adrian’s hand tightly and wouldn’t let go. It was nice to see them together. He was a natural. Yeah. We were going to be fine.


End file.
